In the months between the massacre and the trial, there were intense debates about the tragedy. Almost every newspaper in the country carried extensive reports of the events of 24 May. These newspaper reports can give us a good idea of what people thought about the conflict between the Israelites and the government.

The Israelites received tremendous support from black political and trade union groups. Both the ANC and the ICU helped the Israelite families with money. They reminded people that the Israelites had been the victims of harsh government policies and controls. The ANC said that Enoch Mgijima attracted people who had been pushed off their land by the 1913 Land Act. His religious ideas and his community had given them hope when they were poor and homeless. A meeting of the ANC condemned ‘the pogrom [a deliberate massacre] action of the authorities at Bulhoek, Kamastone, resulting in an appalling loss of life and destruction of property’ (quoted in Queenstown Daily Representative, 27 May 1921).

Selby Msimang, a leader of the ICU, referred to the effects of the laws about land, and noted that Enoch Mgijima and his followers had refused to work for neighbouring white farmers:

The Natal newspaper Illanga Lase Natal, which was started by black educator John Dube, commented that whites could not tolerate any resistance to their laws or practices that affected their control of blacks: