Johannesburg Magistrate's Court bombing
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| Johannesburg Magistrate's Court bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the history of Apartheid | |
| Location | Magistrate's court, Johannesburg, Transvaal Province modern day Gauteng Province, Ntemi Piliso St, CBD, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa |
| Date | 20 May 1987 |
| Deaths | 4 police |
| Injured | 15 |
| Perpetrators | Members of the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe |
The Johannesburg Magistrate's Court Bombing took place on 20 May 1987 in Johannesburg, in the former Transvaal Province, now in Gauteng. The bombing is often referred to as a massacre[citation needed] in which 4 South African Police members died and a further 15 civilians were injured. It was perpetrated by the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) para-military wing.
The bombing started with a limpet mine attack which lured policemen out of the Johannesburg Magistrates Court after it exploded.[1] A police cordon was then established around the blast site and was then followed-up by a car bomb.[1]
Three South African Police 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.[2] 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.[2] Eleven journalist that arrived at the scene were detained by police, accused of knowing the about the bomb beforehand.[1]
It was established at a Truth and Reconciliation amnesty hearing in 1998 that a three man team under the instruction of Siphiwe Nyanda, commander of MK in the Transvaal based in Swaziland (since 2018 renamed to Eswatini) were responsible for the bombing.[3] Solly Shoke supplied the limpet mine, remote control and explosives.[4] Joseph Koetle was responsible for the delivery of the limpet mine and car bomb to the target and its remote detonation.[4] William Mabele drove the second car.[4]
The bomb was built the day before in Soweto and placed in a stolen VW Golf.[5] 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.[4][5] 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.[4][5] 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.[4][5]
