Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- A note on sources and terms
- Map
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Who was Enoch Mgijima?
- 3 1907—1918: Unokuzaku wokugqibela: Ambassador of the Last Days
- 4 1919—October 1920: ‘We won't move’: The Passover Gathering at Ntabelanga
- 5 November—December 1920: ‘They must remember they are fighting God’
- 6 January—April 1921: ‘Do you people still pay taxes?’
- 7 May 1921: ‘If there is death, let us die through our belief’
- 8 Understanding Bulhoek: Voices down the years
- References
- Sources for further reading
- Teaching approaches
- Questions for discussion
- Index
4 - 1919—October 1920: ‘We won't move’: The Passover Gathering at Ntabelanga
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- A note on sources and terms
- Map
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Who was Enoch Mgijima?
- 3 1907—1918: Unokuzaku wokugqibela: Ambassador of the Last Days
- 4 1919—October 1920: ‘We won't move’: The Passover Gathering at Ntabelanga
- 5 November—December 1920: ‘They must remember they are fighting God’
- 6 January—April 1921: ‘Do you people still pay taxes?’
- 7 May 1921: ‘If there is death, let us die through our belief’
- 8 Understanding Bulhoek: Voices down the years
- References
- Sources for further reading
- Teaching approaches
- Questions for discussion
- Index
Summary
The most important prophecy for Mgijima came early in 1919. At one of his church services, he stood in front of his tabernacle and uttered the words, ‘Juda, Efrayime, Josef, nezalwane (Judah, Ephraim, Joseph and brethren)’. Juda stood for the Hlubi people; Efrayime the Xhosa people; and Josef all other African groups. Mgijima spoke these words only once but, according to his followers, Israelites all over South Africa heard him. They understood that they were to come to their prophet's holy village at Ntabelanga and await the Lord's coming. Eventually some 3 000 Israelites were to gather there.
Among the families that moved to Ntabelanga were the Ntlokos of the Nqamakwe area in the Transkei. One of their daughters was Dora Tamana, who was in her teens at the time (later she became an important leader in the African National Congress [ANC]). She remembered how her family was drawn to Mgijima's message:
One day we heard the sound of a trumpet and it was a man called Samuel Masiza, telling us that he was sent by the prophet Mgijima … Masiza told us that the whole world was going to be in trouble, the big war will affect everybody and this war will be followed by the battle of Armageddon. The people must join this church called the Church of God and Saints of Christ.
When they learned of Mgijima's call for all Israelites to come together, they packed their belongings and moved to Ntabelanga. Tamana spoke of the hope Mgijima offered: ‘We had a belief that the church would do something better than we are now. Because we had been struggling and I think it was a sort of change in the mind that the people must fight for themselves.’
ISRAELITE HYMN
TO THE HOLY CITY
I hear a sweet voice calling
O listen to the Sound
It is the voice of an Angel
That God through his promise has sent down.
And he will take me to the city
That shall come down from above
And God, Himself, shall dwell with us
And we shall sing redemption songs.
In the New Jerusalem
– Won't you come along with us –
Where Christ had gone to prepare
To the Holy City
He then shall reign forever
In the bright Celestial Shore.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Because They Chose The Plan of GodThe Story of the Bulhoek Massacre of 24 May 1921, pp. 13 - 19Publisher: University of South AfricaPrint publication year: 2012