[1] Ntsikana was born around 1780 to Gaba, a councillor to the western amaRharhabe king, Ngqika and his junior wife Nonabe in the Thyume valley, north of Alice.
Van der Kemp soon became an attraction both for the king and his people, and in the year that he remained among them they had many opportunities to hear him preach and discuss with him his new teaching.
Ntsikana did not fully commit to the Christian religion until he met James Read and Joseph Williams who were travelling with Dyani Tshatshu, son of Xhosa chief from the Buffalo River, near Fort Beaufort in April 1816.
Read and Williams offered further scriptural teaching to Ntsikana, before inviting him to travel with them back to Bethelsdorp when they returned.
But such a journey was impossible, neither his chiefs nor the British authorities would allow him to travel into the colony, so the missionaries advised him to remain where he was until Williams could return to establish the new mission station and offer him further instruction.
When Williams returned he found Ntsikana had patiently waited for him and had moved his family from Thyume to establish his home in the Mankazana hills, close to where the new mission station was built.
Each Saturday, with his complete household, he visited Williams to receive instruction and stayed until Sunday to join in worship.