Paul Weinberg South African, b. 1956
On the morning of 24 May 1921, a force consisting of 800 white policemen and soldiers
confronted an African prophet, Enoch Mgijima, and some 3 000 of his followers at their
holy village of Nthabelanga in the Eastern Cape. Called the Israelites, Mgijima’s followers
had been gathering at the holy site since early 1919 to await the end of the world. They
refused all attempts by the authorities to remove them from the site. With rifles, machine
guns, and cannons, the government forces killed nearly 200 Israelites who challenged them
with knobkerries, swords, and spears. This massacre has been likened to Sharpeville and
Marikana, but while political convictions animated the resistance in 1960 and 2012, the so-
called Bulhoek massacre saw state forces arraigned against the visions of a prophet and the
religious beliefs of his followers.
