Dorha, whom the Dutch called Klaas, was the head of a Chainoqua clan in the late 1600s [IC]. The Chainoqua were the Khoekhoe people whose land took in this valley [IC]. Dorha traded cattle with the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and, from 1679 to 1693, acted as its go-between with the Chainoqua and Hessequa [IC]. His life shows how hard it was for Khoekhoe leaders to hold their ground as the colony grew. He worked with the VOC, fought alongside it, and was later imprisoned by it.
What the letters in square brackets mean
Facts on this page are followed by a tag that shows where they come from.
- [IC] Independently Corroborated. Confirmed by at least two sources that do not depend on each other, or by an official record.
- [MS] Mission-Sourced. Comes from the records of one side only. For Dorha, almost every record was written by VOC officials. No account from the Chainoqua side survives in writing.
- [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it yet.
At a glance
| Born | Not known. The historian Henry Bredekamp dates his life from about 1669, but the year is uncertain [TBV]. |
| Died | 1701 [TBV] |
| Known for | Trading cattle with the VOC and acting as its go-between with the Overberg Khoekhoe [IC] |
| Link to the valley | A leader of the Chainoqua, the people of this part of the Overberg, a generation after Soeswa |
His life
Dorha first appears in the Dutch records around 1672, as a trader of cattle with the VOC [TBV]. His kraal stood at Knoflokskloof, near the present Lebanon forestry station outside Grabouw [IC].
In the war of 1673 to 1677 between the VOC and the Cochoqua leader Gonnema, Dorha fought against Gonnema [TBV]. From 1679 to 1693 he served as the go-between for the VOC with the Chainoqua and the Hessequa [IC]. By the end of the century the company had several cattle posts in the Overberg, where it kept the animals it bartered from the Khoekhoe [IC].
In 1686, after San hunters known to the Dutch as Obiqua had killed colonists, Dorha attacked them, and the VOC’s Council rewarded him with copper beads, tobacco, arrack, and rice [TBV].
His standing with the company did not last. In 1693 Governor Simon van der Stel sent him to Robben Island, after he was accused of taking cattle from Koopman, a rival Khoekhoe leader [TBV]. After his release, his wife was killed by Koopman’s people [TBV]. Dorha was killed in the winter of 1701, while searching for a lost ox near Koopman’s kraal [TBV].
How to read his story
Historians describe Dorha in different ways. Some sources call him an ally of the Dutch [TBV]. Others count him, with Soeswa, among the Chainoqua leaders who tried to hold back the colony’s spread into their land [IC]. Both can be true. Leaders like Dorha had to deal with a power that wanted their cattle and, more and more, their land. They traded and made alliances, and fought when they had to. They were pushed aside all the same.
Links to other figures
- Soeswa led the Chainoqua a generation before him.
- Stoffel Koekson is said to have led a Khoekhoe group near present-day Greyton at about the same time.
What is still open
- The years of his birth and death. Bredekamp’s article gives the dates of his life, and it has not yet been read for this page.
- How the Chainoqua themselves saw him.
- Whether his clan had kraals in this valley, or only further west near Grabouw.
Related
References
- Bredekamp, H.C. “Die lewe van ‘n Khoikhoi-kaptein: Dorha alias Klaas”. The main study of his life. Not yet read in full for this page.
- CapeNature. Riviersonderend Complex Protected Area Management Plan 2021 to 2031, section 2.5, citing Le Roux (1984) and Clift (2001). His role from 1679 to 1693, his kraal at Knoflokskloof, and the VOC cattle posts.
- Wikipedia. Groenland mountains. Dorha and Soeswa as Chainoqua leaders who resisted the colony’s spread.
- Muatze (Mansell Upham). Dorha, Chainoqua chieftain and Dutch collaborator (2026). His first appearance, the war with Gonnema, the attack of 1686, Robben Island, and his death, citing the VOC records edited by E.E. Mossop.