Despite the Company's opposition to war with the Khoekhoe, individual soldiers aroused the ire of the Cochoqua by looting their cattle.
[2] A commando (militia) unit led by Ensign Hieronymous Cruse was sent against him,[3] which failed to capture the Cochoqua's kraal.
[5] The following year a combined force of Europeans, burghers and Khoekhoe (the Goringhaiqua and Gorochouqua peoples) was sent against Gonnema, but again failed to capture him.
[1] He attacked the Goringhaiquas and Gorochouquas again at Tygerberg in early 1675, where fifteen Cochoqua people were killed by Dutch East India Company reinforcements.
[1][2] Another commando unit was sent against the Cochoqua in 1676, but again they failed to capture Gonnema, returning instead with a handful of prisoners and several hundred head of cattle.