After a dispute over land in Ntabelanga, dating back to 1920, an 800-strong police force from the Union of South Africa led by Colonel Johan Davey and General Koos van der Venter gathered at Ingxingwa Ye Nkunzini, in the Bulhoek valley, and Ingxingwa ka Stivini, Steven's Valley.
[1] At the same time 500 men known as the "Israelites", armed with spears and knobkerries, and led by Enoch Mgijima, gathered in an open field, ready to defend their families and community.
He was asked to renounce his visions by the leaders of the church as they could not condone the preaching of conflict and war, but Mgijima refused and was excommunicated.
In 1914, the South African Church of God and Saints of Christ split, with one of the group following Enoch Mgijima, taking on the name of the "Israelites", in keeping with the Old Testament with which their beliefs aligned.
Born and raised in the Bulhoek area, Mgijima erected a building to be used for religious ceremonies by his followers on a piece of land that he owned.
This was due to the fact that one of his followers had broken a mission station rules, which decreed that only evangelists could lead church meetings.
On 7 and 8 December 1920 the Senior Magistrate of Queenstown, ECA Welsh, visited Ntabelanga accompanied by 100 police officers under the command of Major Hutchons from Grahamstown.
[2] On 21 May 1921, with an 800-men strong police force assembled in Queenstown, Colonel Truter sent Mgijima an ultimatum to evacuate the squatters from the land by 23 May 1921.
[4] In response, Mgijima sent Silwana Nkopo and Samuel Matshoba to deliver a letter to Colonel Truter, in which he reiterated his refusal to move from the land and reaffirmed his faith in God to resolve the matter on the Israelite's behalf on 22 May 1921.
[5] On 24 May 1921, armed with machine guns, a cannon and artillery, an 800-strong police force led by Colonel Johan Davey and General Koos van der Venter stationed at the Ntabelanga mountains: Ingxingwa Ye Nkunzini, the Bulhoek valley, and Ingxingwa ka Stivini, Steven's Valley and 500 Israelites led by Mgijima clashed in Bulhoek.
[6] Mgijima, his elder brother Charles, and Gilbert Matshoba were sentenced to five years' hard labour at DeBeer's Convict Station in Kimberley.
[2] The South African Native National Congress (SANNC), now known as the ANC, was hosting its ninth annual meeting since its formation in 1912 at Bloemfontein on the day of the massacre.
The SANNC was opposed to the government's actions in Bulhoek, stating that it had failed to protect and respect the Israelites' religious beliefs.
The Congress sent a telegram to Arthur Barlow, (Member of Parliament for Bloemfontein North) to request a parliamentary inquiry into the shootings.
Die Burger stated its fears that the massacre could be viewed by natives in the same light as Afrikaners saw the Slachter's Nek Rebellion.