President Cyril Ramaphosa was among the thousands of mourners who on Friday gathered at the Nqadu Great Place, outside Idutywa in the Eastern Cape, to pay their last respects to the late AmaXhosa king Mpendulo Zwelonke Sigcawu.

Sigcawu died on the morning of November 14 2019 after being rushed to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha.

The 51-year-old had been the king of AmaXhosa since the death of his father, King Xolilizwe Sigcawu, in 2005.

His funeral was afforded Category 1 status by Ramaphosa, who also delivered an eulogy. The funeral was declared 'the first of its kind' by Officer Commanding Area Military Health Unit Lt-Col Yoliswa Senokwanyane, for its stellar mix of traditional and military honours.

Zwelonke, who was involved in a serious car accident three weeks before his death, was the 22nd Xhosa monarch and the 10th in the lineage of Gcaleka, the great house of King Phalo.

Nkosi Dumehleli Nongudle Mapasa, 83, of Centane, was appointed acting king of the amaXhosa after Sigcawu's death.