Apartheid in South Africa
Events and Projects
Sharpeville Massacre Soweto uprising · Treason Trial Rivonia Trial · Church Street bombing CODESA · St James Church massacre Cape Town peace march Purple Rain
Organisations
ANC · IFP · AWB · Black Sash · CCB Conservative Party · ECC · PP · RP PFP · HNP · MK · PAC · SACP · UDF Broederbond · National Party COSATU · SADF · SAP
People
P. W. Botha · Oupa Gqozo · D. F. Malan Nelson Mandela · Desmond Tutu F. W. de Klerk · Walter Sisulu Helen Suzman · Harry Schwarz Andries Treurnicht · H. F. Verwoerd Oliver Tambo · B. J. Vorster Kaiser Matanzima · Jimmy Kruger Steve Biko · Mahatma Gandhi Joe Slovo · Trevor Huddleston
Places
Bantustan · District Six · Robben Island Sophiatown · South-West Africa Soweto · Sun City · Vlakplaas
Other aspects
Afrikaner nationalism Apartheid laws · Freedom Charter Sullivan Principles · Kairos Document Disinvestment campaign South African Police
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The Church Street bombing was an attack by the Umkhonto we Sizwe on May 20, 1983, the military wing of the African National Congress, in the South African capital Pretoria, killing 19 and wounded more than 200.^[1][2] The bombing was one of the largest attacks engaged in by the ANC during its armed struggle against apartheid.

The attack consisted of a car bomb set off outside the Nedbank Square building on Church Street at 4:30pm on a Friday. The target was South African Air Force (SAAF) headquarters, but as the bomb was set to go off at the height of rush hour, those killed and wounded included civilians. The bomb went off ten minutes earlier than planned, killing two ANC operatives in the vehicle, Freddie Shangwe and Ezekial Maseko. At least 20 ambulances took the dead and wounded to hospital.

[edit] Truth Commission hearing

In submissions to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997 and 1998, the ANC revealed that the attack was orchestrated by a special operations unit of the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), commanded by Aboobaker Ismail. Such units had been authorised by Oliver Tambo, the ANC President, in 1979. At the time of the attack, they reported to Joe Slovo as chief of staff, and the Church Street attack was authorised by Tambo.

The ANC's submission said that the bombing was in response to a South African cross-border raid into Lesotho in December 1982 which killed 42 ANC supporters and civilians, and the assassination of Ruth First, an ANC activist and wife of Joe Slovo, in Maputo, Mozambique. It claimed that 11 of the casualties were SAAF personnel and hence a military target. The legal representative of some of the victims argued that as administrative staff including telephonists and typists they could not accept that they were a legitimate military target.^[3]

Ten MK operatives including Aboobaker Ismail applied for amnesty for this and other bombings. The applications were opposed on various grounds, including that it was a terrorist attack disproportionate to the political motive. The TRC found that the number of civilians versus military personnel killed was unclear. South African Police statistics indicated that 7 members of the SAAF were killed. The commission found that at least 84 of the injured were SAAF members or employees. Amnesty was granted by the TRC.^[4]

[edit] References