Origins of Ngcai

Ngcai was the descendant of Ngcoya. Ngcoya was the descendant of Bhala, the King of Mpondo people in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The clan name of people bearing the surname 'Ngcai' or 'Ngcayi' is Ngcoya.
Ngcai moved from Qawukeni across UMzimvubu River to the area that is now called Nyandeni or Western Pondoland when Ndamase crossed the river to establish his kingdom on the west of Umzimvubu River. Ngcai was one of the people who settled in Nquba, where Reverend William Shaw left some of his missionaries. The mission at Nquba was called Buntingville Mission.
Because of the need to establish a big school, the missionaries had to be relocated to the land on the banks of Cumngce River. They established a new mission in 1845. They called the new mission Buntingville, and the old mission in Nquba was called Old Bunting.
Four men were requested to accompany and safe-guard the missionaries. These four men were Ngcai, Qanda of Bhedla clan, Nonkwelo of Khwetshube clan and Genge of Valela clan. They settled at Cumngce with their families. Anyone who bears the Ngcai surname from Ngcoya clan originates in Buntingville in Ngqeleni where Ngcai and his sons lived. Even the spelling of Ngcai owes to the fact that it is the British missionaries who first wrote it and wrote it in a manner that complied with English language structure.