Kgosi Sekonyela was born in 1804 near Harrismith next to the Wilge River. His mother sent him away from the Tlôkwa to protect him from political rivals. He rejoined the Tlôkwa in C1824, after his mother had led the Batlôkwa during the early Difaqane/difetlwane wars. Amidst the social and political chaos which gripped the present Free State and Lesotho regions, Sekonyela continued to build the Tlôkwa into a major military power. When the worst phase of the wars ended in the early 1830s, he settled on the naturally fortified mountains near the Caledon River.