Two policemen are killed in poll tax resistance

Date: 10 Feb 1906
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Two policemen were killed by a group of Zulus near Richmond, Natal, following local resistance to the collection of poll tax, which became payable on 1 January 1906. Twelve people were found guilty of the murders and subsequently executed. The executions, added to other grievances such as the increased squatters' tax and the penetration of Zululand by White farmers, caused sporadic uprisings in the Umvoti County of Zululand. These uprisings culminated in the Bhambada (also called Bambatha, Bambata) rebellion in June 1906.

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01Sources: Oakes, D. (ed)(1988). Reader's Digest Illustrated History of South Africa: the real story, Pleasantville, New York: Reader's Digest Association.
02Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 2, p. 34.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

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South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Two policemen are killed in poll tax resistance. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011297

South African History Online (2011) 'Two policemen are killed in poll tax resistance', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011297 (Accessed: 18 September 2026).

South African History Online, Two policemen are killed in poll tax resistance [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011297, (accessed 18 September 2026).

"Two policemen are killed in poll tax resistance." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011297. Accessed 18 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Two policemen are killed in poll tax resistance." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011297.