Strijdom Square massacre

Last updated

Strijdom Square massacre
Strijdom square.jpg
Strijdom Square, as it appeared in 2000
South Africa Gauteng location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Strijdom Square
Strijdom Square (Gauteng)
South Africa adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Strijdom Square
Strijdom Square (South Africa)
LocationStrijdom Square, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Coordinates 25°44′47″S28°11′37″E / 25.7464°S 28.1935°E / -25.7464; 28.1935
Date15 November 1988
Attack type
 Mass shooting
Weapon 9mm Vektor pistol
Deaths8
Injured16
PerpetratorBarend Strydom
DefenderSimon Mkonduleli
Motive White supremacy
Convictions
Sentence Death, 30 years in prison (released in 1992, amnestied in 1994)

On 15 November 1988, white supremacist Barend Strydom carried out a shooting spree at Strijdom Square in central Pretoria, South Africa, killing eight people and injuring 16 others. Seven of the victims were black, while one was Indian. Strydom was later convicted and sentenced to death for the attack, but was released from prison as a political prisoner by F. W. de Klerk in 1992, and amnestied by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1994.

Contents

Background

Located in the center of Pretoria, what later became Strijdom Square was initially known as the Market Square. The location hosted several important marketplaces and acted as a center of economic activity. As a result, the square became an important location in Pretoria. [1] In the 1970s, a monument was erected in the square to commemorate South African prime minister J. G. Strijdom, known for his support of racial segregation and his baaskap policy. [2] [3] The square contained a large statue of Strijdom's disembodied head, which was considered its signature feature. [1]

The Delmas Treason Trial was ongoing in Pretoria at the time. [4]

Perpetrator

Barend Hendrik Strydom (born 1965), was born in Wenen, Natal, South Africa. Strydom's mother killed herself at the age of 23, when he was 18 months old. At the time of the suicide, she was alone with Strydom, who was found with blue strangulation marks on his neck. Strydom was told she died in a revolver accident, which he believed until after the shooting. [5] He had been a member of extremist right wing organizations since the age of 16, and was encouraged in his views by his father. [2] Strydom viewed black people as animals. [6] He joined the South African Police, but was dismissed after photographing himself holding a knife and the severed head of a black motorist at the scene of an automobile accident. [5] [6] [7]

A week prior to the shooting, on 8 November 1988, he had gone to a black squatter camp and shot and killed a black woman, injuring another, in what he called a "practice run" for the shooting. [6] [8] After the attack, Strydom claimed he was a member of a group called the White Wolves (Afrikaans : Wit Wolwe), but this was later dismissed as a fictitious organization invented by Strydom. [4] [2] Other sources claimed the Wit Wolwe were a real group, which had started in the 1970s. [9] Strydom also said that he had meditated and prayed a number of days before the attack and said that God had not given him any sign to not to carry out the attack. [2]

Shooting

On 15 November 1988 Strydom, age 23, dressed in camouflage and carrying a 9mm Vektor pistol, [10] two magazines, and 200 loose bullets, travelled to central Pretoria. [2] [6] At about 3 p.m., Strydom parked his car on Prinsloo Street and walked to Strijdom Square, chosen as a location due to its namesake. Once at the square he opened fire at random at any black person he saw. [2] He shot one man outside the State Theatre, before crossing Church Street and headed back towards Prinsloo street. On the corner of Church Street and Prinsloo street he shot an additional two people. [2]

He walked three more blocks, shooting people all the while, before turning down Struben Street and entering the Sato Engineering building. Once inside he walked over to a counter and began to reload his gun. The shooting ended when a black taxi driver, Simon Mkonduleli, followed him into Sato Engineering, and tapped Strydom on the shoulder. Once Strydom turned around, Mkonduleli grabbed Strydom's pistol from the counter and pointed it at him. Strydom raised his hands and said "You've got me." [2] [6] Both men then walked back out into the street, where Strydom was then arrested by several policemen. [2]

Strydom smiled throughout the shooting. [5] [11] Eight people were killed and 16 were injured in the aftermath. [6] [lower-alpha 1] Seven of the victims were black, while one was Indian. [13]

Aftermath

After his arrest, Strydom said he felt nothing for the victims. [2] He claimed he committed the shooting because he wanted to start a race war and that his actions were necessary for the survival of his people. [8] [14] He told the police he was sorry he had not killed more. [6]

Strydom made jokes and laughed in court, joking that he shot one of his victims because she "used up oxygen". [6] [14] During the proceedings, two psychologists and a psychiatrist testified that Strydom was "eccentric but not insane" and knew what he was doing. [6] Strydom showed no remorse for his actions during the proceedings and claimed that he acted according to the will of god. [14] When asked how an elderly woman could threaten him, he stated "She threatened my existence because she was black and because she was alive." [15]

His legal defense was that he had committed justifiable homicide. [8] During his trial Strydom became a "cult figure" to the extreme right wing in South Africa. [8] On 25 May 1989, Strydom was sentenced to 30 years for attempted murder and was sentenced to death on the murder charges, to be carried out by hanging. [6] [8] [14] The presiding judge stated Strydom's actions were "worse than those of terrorists", as he had laughed in the faces of his victims while shooting them instead of leaving bombs. [16] Strydom's defense attorney stated he would appeal his sentence. [6]

In 1990, the government declared a moratorium on capital punishment. [14] In 1992, he was released from prison by President F. W. de Klerk as one of 150 political prisoners, part of an attempt to reduce white South African criticism of de Klerk's concessions to the ANC. [17] On the day Strydom was released, 29 September 1992, unknown persons poured a large quantity of red dye into the foundation of the monument. It is unknown if this was done by people in support of or against Strydom's actions. [18]

He was then granted amnesty in 1994 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the grounds that his attack was politically motivated. [14] [19] The ANC condemned the release of Strydom. [20] [21] His release was controversial, as was that of Robert McBride, a black man who had killed whites. [19] [22] Strydom stated after his release that he would do it again "if necessary". [23] De Klerk stated he viewed the crimes of both McBride and Strydom as "atrocious", but that their release was to help black-white political negotiations move forward. [17]

Legacy

Simon Mkonduleli was later killed in an attack in 1991, possibly related to his work as a private investigator. [24]

On the 30th anniversary of the attack, on 15 November 2018, the names of the victims were read aloud in a ceremony. A commemorative plaque was dedicated in the square, created by Bradley Steyn, who had witnessed the massacre as a teenager. [25] [26] The ceremony was attended by Carl Niehaus, a spokesperson for the UMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans' Association, and two family members of the victims. [10]

The square itself was later renamed Lillian Ngoyi Square, after South African anti-apartheid activist Lilian Ngoyi. [27]

Strydom was investigated for his support and leadership in right wing extremist causes in 2003, after his release. [20] This came after he showed support for De Wet Kritzinger, who shot and killed 3 black people on a bus. After Kritzinger was sentenced, Strydom read out a statement of support for him, and described him as a prisoner of war. [28] [29] Kritzinger had previously expressed support for the Wit Wolwe, Strydom's nonexistent far right group. [30]

In 2008, Strydom testified at the Boeremag trial, after he was called to the stand to defend Adriaan van Wy. He stated during his testimony that he still believed black people were not human. The head prosecutor in that case was the same official who had sentenced Strydom to death. [31] [32]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Counting the woman who died in the prior attack, the count would be nine. One of the victims in the square shooting died due to his injuries five years later. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. W. de Klerk</span> Leader of South Africa from 1989 to 1994

Frederik Willem de Klerk was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996. As South Africa's last head of state from the era of white-minority rule, he and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage. Ideologically a social conservative and an economic liberal, he led the National Party (NP) from 1989 to 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winnie Madikizela-Mandela</span> South African activist and politician (1936–2018)

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, and the second wife of Nelson Mandela. She served as a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2003, and from 2009 until her death, and was a deputy minister of arts and culture from 1994 to 1996. A member of the African National Congress (ANC) political party, she served on the ANC's National Executive Committee and headed its Women's League. Madikizela-Mandela was known to her supporters as the "Mother of the Nation".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. G. Strijdom</span> Prime Minister of South Africa from 1954 to 1958

Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom, also known as Hans Strijdom and nicknamed the Lion of the North or the Lion of Waterberg, was the fifth prime minister of South Africa from 30 November 1954 to his death on 24 August 1958. He was an uncompromising Afrikaner nationalist and a member of the largest, baasskap faction of the National Party (NP), who further accentuated the NP's apartheid policies and break with the Union of South Africa in favour of a republic during his rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnus Malan</span>

General Magnus André de Merindol Malan was a South African military figure and politician during the last years of apartheid in South Africa. He served respectively as Minister of Defence in the cabinet of President P. W. Botha, Chief of the South African Defence Force (SADF), and Chief of the South African Army. Rising quickly through the lower ranks, he was appointed to strategic command positions. His tenure as chief of the defence force saw it increase in size, efficiency and capabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging</span> South African neo-Nazi political party

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, meaning "Afrikaner Resistance Movement", commonly known by its abbreviation AWB, is an Afrikaner nationalist, neo-Nazi political party in South Africa. Since its founding in 1973 by Eugène Terre'Blanche and six other far-right Afrikaners, it has been dedicated to secessionist Afrikaner nationalism and the creation of an independent Boer-Afrikaner republic or "Volkstaat/Boerestaat" in part of South Africa. During bilateral negotiations to end apartheid in the early 1990s, the organisation terrorised and killed black South Africans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugène Terre'Blanche</span> Afrikaner nationalist (1941–2010)

Eugène Ney Terre'Blanche was an Afrikaner nationalist who founded and led the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. Prior to founding the AWB, he served as a South African Police officer, was a farmer, and was an unsuccessful Herstigte Nasionale Party candidate for local office in the Transvaal. He was a major figure in the right-wing backlash against the collapse of apartheid. His beliefs and philosophy have continued to be influential amongst white supremacists in South Africa and across the world.

The following lists events that happened during 1988 in South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoërskool Waterkloof</span> Public & boarding school in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

Hoërskool Waterkloof is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in the eastern suburbs of Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is one of the most expensive Afrikaans medium schools, the fee per child amounting to R 32,400 per annum. It has received the award for academic school of the year from the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2018, it received the award for best academic school in Gauteng province, the ninth time since 2009. It claims a 100% matric pass rate for 30 consecutive years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene de Kock</span> South African Police colonel and head of C10

Eugene Alexander de Kock is a former South African Police colonel, torturer, and assassin, active under the apartheid government. Nicknamed "Prime Evil" by the press, De Kock was the commanding officer of C10, a counterinsurgency unit of the SAP that kidnapped, tortured, and murdered numerous terrorists from the 1980s to the early 1990s. C10's victims included members of the African National Congress.

Wilhelm Friedrich Ratte is a former member of the elite Rhodesian Special Air Service of the Rhodesian Army, and former lieutenant colonel in 32 Battalion, the most decorated unit in the South African Defence Force. He is the youngest son born to a South African mother and German father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius Malema</span> South African politician (born 1981)

Julius Sello Malema is a South African politician who is the founder and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a populist far-left political party known for the red berets and military-style outfits worn by its members. Before its foundation, he served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League from 2008 until his expulsion from the party in 2012.

Racism in South Africa can be traced back to the earliest historical accounts of interactions between African, Asian, and European peoples along the coast of Southern Africa. It has existed throughout several centuries of the history of South Africa, dating back to the Dutch colonization of Southern Africa, which started in 1652. Before universal suffrage was achieved in 1994, White South Africans, especially Afrikaners during the period of Apartheid, enjoyed various legally or socially sanctioned privileges and rights that were denied to the indigenous African peoples. Examples of systematic racism over the course of South Africa's history include forced removals, racial inequality and segregation, uneven resource distribution, and disenfranchisement. Racial controversies and politics remain major phenomena in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coenraad Frederik Strydom</span> South African rugby union player

Coenraad Frederik "Popeye" Strydom was a South Africa national rugby union team player. In all, Strydom made six appearances for the Springboks between 1955 and 1958.

Butana Almond Nofomela is a former South African security policeman. On 19 October 1989, hours before he was scheduled to be executed for an unrelated non-political murder, Nofomela confessed to his involvement in a police assassination squad that killed and terrorized opponents of apartheid. Nofomela was granted a stay of execution so he could give more information. His death sentence for the unrelated murder was commuted to life imprisonment and he was released on parole in 2009.

The Ladysmith massacre was a mass shooting that occurred in the Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal area on 20 January 1992, in South Africa, perpetrated by Carel Johannes Delport. Most of Delport's victims were black, and in the aftermath racial tensions in the area increased. Delport was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 39 years in prison.

Lieutenant-General Pierre Derksen Steyn is a retired South African Air Force officer who served as Secretary for Defence from 1994 to 1998, and as Chief of Defence Force Staff from 1990 to 1993. He is also known as the chair of the Steyn Commission, which from 1992 to 1993 investigated allegations of criminal and third force activity by the apartheid-era South African Defence Force.

Jacobus Hercules "Koos" van der Merwe is a South African former politician. He was a member of the South African Parliament, representing the National Party, Conservative Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). He was a member of the House of Assembly and later the South African National Assembly between 1977 and 2014, being the longest serving member of Parliament at the time of his retirement.

Dumisani Masilela, was a South African actor, musician and former soccer player. As an actor, he is best known for the role in the television serial Rhythm City.

The 2008 Skierlik shooting occurred on 14 January 2008, when a teenage Afrikaner opened fire in Skierlik, a township near Swartruggens, South Africa, killing 4 black people and injuring 8 in a racially motivated attack. The shooter, Johan Nel, had shouted racial expletives during the shooting and was arrested after attempting to seek refuge at a nearby farm. He was awaiting sentencing for shooting and paralyzing a black man who had allegedly attacked him when he was 13. Nel was sentenced to four life sentences and 68 years in prison.

The 1999 Tempe military base shooting was a mass shooting that occurred 16 September 1999, at the Tempe military base near Bloemfontein, in South Africa. Lt. Sibusiso Madubela shot and killed eight people – including seven soldiers and one civilian – before he was shot dead by two soldiers. Four people were injured. During the shooting, Madubela at times pushed black people out of the way to shoot whites, and everyone killed or injured in the shooting was white. Prior to the shooting, his pay had been suspended following a period of absence without leave.

References

  1. 1 2 Hook 2005 , p. 690
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "The 1988 Square Massacre". News24 . 31 May 2001. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Hook 2005 , pp. 690–691
  4. 1 2 "Inside the Wit Wolwe". The Mail & Guardian . 19 May 1989. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Moore, Estella (18 November 2018). "The day Wit Wolf turned Pretoria red with blood". Pretoria News . IOL. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Wren, Christopher S. (26 May 1989). "White Supremacist Sentenced to Death By a Pretoria Court". The New York Times . p. 7. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
  7. ↑ Smith, Janet (15 November 2008). "What became of the Big Wit Wolf?". IOL . Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Court Sentences Supremacist To Hang". The Sun Sentinel . 26 May 1989. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  9. ↑ Falkof 2015 , p. 1
  10. 1 2 Ndlazi, Sakhile (16 November 2018). "Strydom's Scars Still Run Deep". Pretoria News . South Africa. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019– via PressReader.
  11. ↑ Hogg, Alec (28 November 2022). "Only the suffering of 'big people' matters". BizNews. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  12. ↑ Minnaar, Keith & Pretorius 1994, p. 98
  13. ↑ Koza, Neo (15 November 2018). "Son of Satat Carrim killed by 'Wit Wolf' recounts the day his father was shot". Radio 702 . Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Barend Strydom kills 8 People in Pretoria". South African History Online. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  15. ↑ Kraft, Scott (29 September 1992). "S. Africa Frees Most-Notorious Racist, Rebels". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  16. ↑ "Cheers and fists as Strydom gets death". The Mail & Guardian . 26 May 1989. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  17. 1 2 Eddings, Jerelyn (29 September 1992). "South Africa's most notorious killers go free in government peace gesture". The Baltimore Sun . Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  18. ↑ Hook 2005 , p. 693
  19. 1 2 Wren, Christopher S. (3 June 1990). "Terrorist or Freedom Fighter? Pretoria Debates Whom to Amnesty". The New York Times . p. 18. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  20. 1 2 Maluleke, Elias (4 May 2003). "Wit Wolf: Amnesty probe". News24 . Archived from the original on 26 September 2004. Retrieved 2 September 2006.
  21. ↑ "Statement on misrepresentation over release of Barend Strydom" (Press release). Department of Information and Publicity. 29 September 1992. Retrieved 2 September 2006– via African National Congress.
  22. ↑ Kraft, Scott (5 October 1992). "S. Africa Prisoner Release Reopens Wounds : Amnesty: Some are ready to forgive and forget. But those who lost limbs and loved ones say it's too soon". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  23. ↑ Carlin, John (4 October 1992). "'White Wolf' ready to murder blacks again". The Independent . Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  24. ↑ "S. African Who Halted Killing Spree Slain". The Washington Post . 1 May 1995. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  25. ↑ Langa, Phumlani (14 November 2018). "A dark day remembered: 30 years since Strijdom Square massacre". City Press . News24 . Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  26. ↑ Moore, Estella (16 November 2018). "Barend Strydom was horrifying inevitable outcome of apartheid". Pretoria News . IOL. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  27. ↑ Mdluli, Ayanda (19 October 2018). "Three decades later: A quest for closure on the steps of Strijdom Square". IOL . Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  28. ↑ "Sentence 'a warning to racists'". News24 . 2 May 2003. Archived from the original on 9 July 2004. Retrieved 2 September 2006.
  29. ↑ "Wit Wolf: Bus killer 'a POW'". News24 . 2 May 2003. Archived from the original on 9 July 2004. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  30. ↑ "Suspect's tape released". News24 . 10 August 2000. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  31. ↑ Venter, Zelda (8 August 2008). "Remember him..." IOL . Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  32. ↑ "Boeremag Treason Trial Timeline". South African History Online. Retrieved 30 November 2023.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.