About Faku

Faku kaNgqungqushe , son of Ngqungqushe kaNyawuza was the last ruling monarch of the Mpondo kingdom in Southern Africa from 1815-1867.^[2] During his reign, King Faku consolidated and unified several groups and expanded the territory he had inherited from his father. In 1844, he forged an alliance with the Cape Colony and encouraged British colonization of Natal, thus ensuring his own kingdom would have boundaries that were defined according to Western standards at the time. The kingdom was eventually annexed by the British Empire, became part of the Cape Colony and is today a section of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

In 2012, a bunch of runners began running annually through Pondoland (from Port Edward to Grosvenor) and finished the annual 47km run by touching a hut, which belongs to a man named Faku by chance. Due to the legend of Chief Faku from the 19th century, our athletics club was named Faku Chiefs out of respect.

If you would like to run into the beautiful Pondoland please email us and we can share the route, accommodation options and how to do it!