She began having visions and telling locals that God had told her the epidemic was punishment for people's sins and that her mission was to reform society.
Authorities welcomed her as they understood her sermons to be encouraging her congregation to abstain from alcohol consumption, immorality, dances, and other traditional customs.
Nontetha’s movement grew rapidly in rural Ciskei, East London, Middledrift and King William's Town.
Nkwenkwe's great-grandson Mzimkhulu Bungu believes that some established mission churches, worried about her growing following, had also complained about her activities.
[5] Nkwenkwe's sermons also encouraged unity among educated and "red" Xhosa people, something that was in conflict with the colonial system's divide and conquer mechanism.
Mindful of the disorder that could be unleashed by a possible court appearance, the authorities committed Nontetha to Fort Beaufort Mental Hospital.
A second pilgrimage was cut short and the marchers loaded back onto trains after crossing the Orange River at Aliwal North without passes in 1930.
In 1997, Robert Edgar and Hilary Sapire began to assist in locating Nontetha's grave, and her remains were reburied at her home in Khulile village in 1998.