SEEING THE LIGHT: Members of the Church of God and Saints of Christ raise their spirits around the cenotaph created by Mgcineni Sobopha and Michael Barry to commemorate the Bulhoek Massacre PICTURE: GARY HORLOR © SUNDAY TIMES

Enoch Mgijima

The Bulhoek Massacre — May 24 1921

On May 24 1921, police killed at least 183 Israelites — followers of the prophet Enoch Mgijima — in a 20-minute battle at Bulhoek near Queenstown. About 500 white-robed men, armed with sticks and spears, challenged the machine guns of an 800-strong police force brought in to remove the Israelites who had settled at the holy village of Ntabelanga, or Bulhoek, to pray. Mgijima was charged with sedition and imprisoned. On his release in 1924, he and other survivors started building this tabernacle, where the massacre is commemorated annually by the Church of God and Saints of Christ, as the Israelites are now known.

» ARTISTS: Mgcineni Sobopha and Michael Barry

» ADDRESS: Israelite Temple, Queenstown

In defence of holy ground

PROPHETIC PILGRIMAGE

Journey through the Enoch Mgijima archive

Read the letter Enoch Mgijima wrote to the Commissioner of the South African Police, warning that a cataclysmic war would engulf South Africa. Find out more about the hardened attitudes of the police, who were keen to teach the Israelites "a lesson"

» View the archive

» Key events in the life of Enoch Mgijima

MGCINENI SOBOPHA AND MICHAEL BARRY

IN A BRUSHSTROKE

» Who are Mgcineni "Pro" Sobopha and Michael Barry?
Sobopha lives in Alice, where he lectures in art history at the University of Fort Hare. Barry is the Eastern Cape project manager of the Sunday Times Heritage Project

» The light bulb moment: The artists’ concept
The cenotaph created by Mgcineni "Pro" Sobopha and Michael Barry recalls a tragic episode that was kept hidden during apartheid

Captured Israelites, 1921 PICTURE: © MUSEUM AFRICA

» A bloody blueprint for oppression
Enoch Mgijima’s father was among those Mfengu people who accepted land from the British in a buffer zone - Ntabelanga, or Bulhoek

» A sword raised against bullets
In a glass case in the Amathole Museum, a homemade sword stands as the symbol of a religious group’s struggle to protect its community

» LESSON PLANS FOR EDUCATORS

» Archive Photo Gallery

A selection of photographs of the Bulhoek Massacre, courtesy of Museum Africa

» Artwork Photo Gallery

Photographs of the memorial and Church of God and Saints of Christ congregants, taken at an unveiling ceremony

» Map

Find your way to the memorial at Queenstown in the Eastern Cape

» Video Archive (1)

Extract from a documentary on the Bulhoek Massacre, focusing on the controversy over the number of casualties

» Video Archive (2)

In the decades since the Massacre, the church has grown in strength, and today has chapters throughout Eastern Cape

MAKE THE MOST OF OUR MULTIMEDIA
Download QuickTime Player for Mac or Windows
Download Flash Player for Mac or Windows