24 May 1921
In 1921, in a battle lasting less than 30 minutes between police and Israelites, followers of prophet Enoch Mgijima, more than 180 people were killed. The battle started after police issued an ultimatum demanding that the Israelites evacuate land they were squatting on and warned that if they failed to comply, their leader would be arrested and their homes demolished. Soon afterwards a group of around 500 white-robed men, armed with sticks and spears, challenged the machine guns of an 800-strong police force sent by Jan Smuts to remove the Israelites who had settled at the holy village of Ntabelanga, Bulhoek in Queenstown to pray. The event coincided with Smuts’ birthday. He was turning 51 on the day. The Israelites used to gather in the area to celebrate Passover.  Towards the end of 1919 Mgijima declared that he had a vision that the world would end in 1920. This caused a pilgrimage of his followers from all over South Africa. About 3 000 people arrived at Ntabelanga and proceeded to squat there, erecting a tabernacle and some huts without registering themselves or paying tax. Mgijima was insistent that the end of the world was at hand and that Jehovah had instructed him to remain there. Prophet Mgijima was charged with sedition and imprisoned.  He was released in 1924. * Note: Sources vary on the number of Isrealites that gathered at Ntabelanga and proceeded to squat there, sources also vary on the exact number of victims of the massacre. Therefore all of the numbers in this piece are approximate and based on numerous sources (below).
References

South African History Online, ‘General Jan Christiaan Smuts’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za (Accessed: 25 April 2012)|Makobe, D. H. (1996). 'Religious fanatics that became political heroes: The historical distortions of the Bulhoek Massacre", Militaria 26(2), pp. 106-112.|Makobe, D. H. (1996). 'Understanding the Bulhoek massacre: Voices after the Massacre and down the years', Militaria 26(2), pp. 98-105|Makobe, D. H. (1996). 'The Bulhoek Massacre: Origins, casualties, reactions and historical distortions', Militaria 26(1), pp. 22-37.|Sunday Times, ‘Enoch Mgijima”, [online], available at: heritage.thetimes.co.za (Accessed: 25 April 2012)|Saunders, C. (ed)(1989). Reader's Digest Illustrated History of South Africa-The Real Story, Cape Town: Reader's Digest.|Makobe, D. H. (1996). 'The price of fanaticism: The casualties of the Bulhoek Massacre', Militaria 26(1), pp. 38-41.|Hermann Giliomee and Bernard Mbenga (2007). New History of South Africa. Tafelberg Publishers, Cape Town, pg 50.|Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.|Cameron, T. (ed)(1986). An Illustrated History of South Africa, Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball.|Potgieter D. J. (ed)(1973). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: Nasou.