Johannesburg Magistrate's Court Bombing
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The Johannesburg Magistrate's Court Bombing took place on 20 May 1987 in
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
, in the former
Transvaal Province The Province of the Transvaal ( af, Provinsie van Transvaal), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Trans ...
, now in
Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...
. The bombing is often referred to as a massacre in which 4
South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Af ...
members died and a further 15 civilians were injured. It was perpetrated by the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) para-military wing.


Bombing

The bombing started with a limpet mine attack which lured policemen out of the Johannesburg Magistrates Court after it exploded. A police cordon was then established around the blast site and was then followed-up by a car bomb. Three
South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Af ...
officers, Weyers Botha, Andre Duvenhage and Kobus Wilkens were killed in the second blast, while a fourth, Christoffel Botha died two days later in hospital from shrapnel wounds. At least 15 policemen and civilian's were injured.One of the policemen that survived the ordeal, was Constable Frederick Ernst who was in hospital for a month. He was released from hospital after a series of schrapnel removal operations and numerous skin grafts. Police would later find a remote control device in a flowerpot close to the bomb site. Eleven journalist that arrived at the scene were detained by police, accused of knowing the about the bomb beforehand. It was established at a Truth and Reconciliation amnesty hearing in 1998 that a three man team under the instruction of
Siphiwe Nyanda General Siphiwe Nyanda (born 1950) is a former South African military commander and politician. He was a member of Umkhonto We Sizwe and served as Chief of the South African National Defence Force from 1998 to 2005, Minister of Communication ...
, commander of MK in the Transvaal based in Swaziland (since 2018 renamed to Eswatini) were responsible for the bombing.
Solly Shoke General Solly Zacharia Shoke, (born 15 August 1956) is a South African military commander. He joined uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress, in the 1970s, and served as a field commander fighting against the ...
supplied the limpet mine, remote control and explosives. Joseph Koetle was responsible for the delivery of the limpet mine and car bomb to the target and its remote detonation. William Mabele drove the second car. The bomb was built the day before in
Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...
and placed in a stolen VW Golf. On the day of the bombing, the Koetle drove the car bomb in the morning to the parking site outside the court and was driven back to Soweto by Mabele. Koetle returned to the site around 12h10 and armed the car bomb and planted the limpet mine in a rubbish bin nearby with a fifteen minute delay. He waited for the first explosion at a nearby café and after it detonated, watched for a police cordon to be set-up in an attempt to minimize civilian casualties before detonating the car bomb remotely.


Significance

According to historian Padraig O’Malley this bombing was notable among the various Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) operations due to the loss of life, according to his research hundreds of bombings and terrorist acts were committed with the vast majority having no fatalities. This could either be attributed to an increase in hostilities or an unfortunate accident.


See also

*
List of massacres in South Africa The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in South Africa (numbers may be approximate): See also * Political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa * Internal resistance to apartheid * 1993 raid on Mthatha References ...


References

{{Political history of South Africa 1980s massacres in South Africa 1987 murders in South Africa 1987 in South Africa