Andrew Zondo
Amanzimtoti bombing
Amanzimtoti bombing
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On 20 December 1985, the South African security forces carried out a raid in [Lesotho](/wiki/Lesotho "Lesotho"), killing nine anti\-[apartheid](/wiki/Apartheid "Apartheid") activists. In retaliation, [Durban](/wiki/Durban "Durban") MK operatives including Zondo placed a [limpet mine](/wiki/Limpet_mine "Limpet mine") at the [Amanzimtoti](/wiki/KwaZulu-Natal "KwaZulu-Natal") Sanlam shopping centre on 23 December 1985\. Two adults and three children were killed, and 161 other people were injured.

Irma Bencini (48\) was one of those killed. Her stepdaughter, Debbie Scott, an Amanzimtoti resident, later said "I remember that day when we were all excitedly preparing for Christmas. I went to the then OK Bazaar near Sanlam Centre and my stepmother said she needed to go into the nearby supermarket. Within a few minutes I heard a loud bang and realized she was in danger. I rushed to the scene and found her body. She died instantly… My dad Mario has never been the same since then, and that incident will forever haunt us. Surely Zondo knew that planting a bomb in a supermarket was going to kill innocent people".

[Oliver Tambo](/wiki/Oliver_Tambo "Oliver Tambo"), the former president of the ANC, said that the killing of civilians was against ANC policy, and accordingly he disapproved of the bombing, but understood the reasons for its being carried out.


Did Oliver Tambo approve of the bombing?