AmaMpondomise - A Story of Resilience is an account of a nation that has come full circle. From its origins; its royal lineage and rich heritage; the herioc wars if fought; its disintegration as a result of colonialism and apartheid - to its eventual recognition and restoration as a kingdom, the spirit of resilience of the AmaMpondomise had been enduring.

Samkelo Callaway Mtwana provides evidence of how this ancient kingdom was robbed of its land literally at gunpoint. On Monday, the 6th October 1873, Magistrate Joseph Millerd Orpen, commander of the Free State's Boer Commandos managed to lure hordes of AmaMpondomise under their king Mhlontlo Ka Matiwane to an open veld near Somerville in the present day Eastern Cape. There, Mhlontlo and his people were surrounded by armed British troops and Mhlontlo was forced to agree to surrender his land to the colonial government. The AmaMpondomise Anti-Colonial Rebellion of 1880, which led to the nation being stripped of its centuries-old kingship, and which conventional history books continue to play down by reducing it to only one incident - the killing of Hamilton Hope, a white Qumbu "magistrate", is elaborately examined in the book.