Several authors admit that Chief Makgoba presided over a small population when the clan made contact with White Trekboers for the first time.

[5] Chief Makgoba, as we know him, came from a royal family that led a tribe in Makgobaskloof prior to the arrival of White Trekboers in the Lowveld, Soutpansberg in the 1860.

Chief Makgoba had several clashes with invading white Afrikaner farmers (Trekboers) who occupied land belonging to indigenous people in and around Makgobaskloof.

[7] After the former ZAR (Zuid Afrikaanse Repuliek) administration introduced laws that redefined wards in the Soutpansberg, land belonging to the indigenous local population was given away to White trekkers to farm.

There is no clear indication when the first group of White trekkers came to the Lowveld of the former Northern Transvaal, but it is known that in the mid-1880s there already were signs of hunters and prospectors active in the area.

Many of the chiefs did not recognize the ZAR administration as legitimate because if fell outside the traditional institutions of governance and leadership framework[9](as amended).

As a result, the chiefs and queens resisted because African people were not seen as equal partners to the land and the many natural resources deposits in the area.

In 1888, officials from the ZAR administration began erecting beacons to mark off land belonging to indigenous local populations.

While Chief Makgoba was in prison for the first time, other traditional leaders not far from Makgobaskloof joined the struggle against land annexation and exclusion by the ZAR administration.

As Queen Modjadji and her people continued with resistance, the administration Pietersburg and Pretoria decided to form commandos to suppress the revolt.

Chief Makgoba had already earned the titled of "The Lion of the Soutpansberg" for his guerilla warfare strategies and tactics against an invading population of White Trekboers.

The war came to end after the ZAR administration connived with Swazi sellouts who managed to arrest one of Chief Makgoba's family members.