A bomb planted by South African security police destroyed the ANC's London exile headquarters, later confirmed at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing.
Key Facts
- Bomb weight
- 11 kilograms (24 lb)
- Date of attack
- 14 March 1982, 9:00 am
- Windows broken radius
- Up to 400 yards (370 m) away
- Injury
- Caretaker Vernet Mbatha injured
- Perpetrators admitted
- General Johann Coetzee and 8 other police
- TRC admission year
- September 1998
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The South African National Party government ordered the attack in response to ANC operations inside South Africa, including a rocket strike on the Voortrekkerhoogte military base in August 1981, and to signal displeasure with the British government's tolerance of ANC activities on its soil.
On 14 March 1982, an 11-kilogram bomb exploded against the rear wall of the ANC's London offices on White Lion Street and Penton Street, Islington, at 9 am. The blast wrecked the offices, which had served as the ANC's headquarters in exile since the 1960s, broke windows up to 400 yards away, and injured caretaker Vernet Mbatha.
The property was repaired and continued to serve as the ANC's exile base until Nelson Mandela's election as South African president in 1994. In September 1998, General Johann Coetzee and eight colleagues admitted responsibility at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearing in Pretoria, publicly confirming state-sanctioned involvement.