1811 – 1875

Chief of the Kok clan of the Griquas

Born in Griquatown, Northern Cape, Adam Kok III was the tough descendant of the Griqua founding father Adam Kok I.

He was educated at the Philippolis mission school and was appointed early to the Griqua Council to be groomed as a chief, or 'Kaptein' as the authorities would refer to him.

One of his biggest challenges as chief was the increasing presence of Boers trekking into his territory. Despite many formal attempts to deal with this threat, including protests to the Cape Governor, leasing land to the newcomers and numerous treacherous treaties, Kok III decided to move.

In 1861 he trekked with 3,000 Griquas to the south-east of the Drakensberg mountains, into a territory left vacant by those fleeing Shaka's military called 'Nomansland', known today as Griqualand East. Its capital became Kokstad, in honour of its chief. Though for a long time overshadowed in history by the story of the Voortrekkers, this trek of the Griquas has been described as 'one of the great epics of the 19th century'.

It took the Griquas about ten years to prosper. Kok III succeeded in establishing a self-governing territory with a Griqua government that raised its own revenue through taxes, traded licenses and fines and in 1867 printed its own currency, backed by livestock and grain. However, the sovereignty was short-lived.

In 1871, Britain annexed Griqualand West, after the discovery of diamonds there two years earlier, and went on to annex Griqualand East in 1879, incorporating it into the Cape Colony, leaving the Griquas landless once again. British settlers flooded into the area, soon turning Kok III into a British functionary on an annual pension.

Adam Kok III was a well-loved Griqua leader who defended his dynasty against colonial encroachment in the central western regions of South Africa. No early descriptions of Kok III exist but after 186o he was described as a kindly, astute, rather melancholic old man who was always courteous, with a particular fondness for children.

Kok III died tragically in an accident in his carriage while on his way from Kokstad to Umzimkulu, signalling the end, for some, of the greatest of the many Kok chiefs.