The Shell House massacre was a 1994 shooting incident that took place at Shell House, the headquarters of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC), in central

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, 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#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

in the lead up to the 1994 elections.

Description

Shell House (not to be confused with

Luthuli House Chief Albert Luthuli House in Johannesburg, more simply known as Luthuli House, is the headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC) and other subsidiary organizations. The name "Luthuli House" is frequently used as a metonym Metonymy () ...

, where the ANC later relocated) at 51 Plein Street, Johannesburg, South Africa was the headquarters of the ANC after the organisation was unbanned until 1997. On 28 March 1994, about 20,000

Inkatha Freedom Party The Inkatha Freedom Party ( zu, IQembu leNkatha yeNkululeko, IFP) is a right-wing political party in South Africa. The party has been led by Velenkosini Hlabisa since the party's 2019 National General Conference. Mangosuthu Buthelezi founde ...

(IFP) supporters marched to Shell House in protest against the 1994 elections that the IFP was intending to boycott. The ANC people opened fire, killing nineteen people. At the time, guards claimed that the IFP supporters were storming the building or that a tip-off had been received of that being planned. The Nugent Commission of Inquiry into the killings rejected that explanation. The commission's conclusion was that the shooting by ANC guards was unjustified. The incident reflected the rising tensions between the ANC and IFP, which had begun in the 1980s in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

and had then spread to other provinces in the 1990s. The IFP claimed that the ANC was intent on undermining traditional authorities and the power of Zulu chiefs; the ANC saw a power struggle as the demise of apartheid was finalised.

Aftermath

The incident triggered a state of emergency across eleven magisterial districts in the East Rand, as well as the whole of the

KwaZulu KwaZulu was a semi-independent bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a homeland for the Zulu people. The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980. It was led until its abolition in 1994 by Chief Mangosuthu ...

and

Natal province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organized into ...

. In June 1995, ANC and then President

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

claimed that he had given the order to defend Shell House, even if it should require killing people. In 1995

Willem Ratte Wilhelm Friedrich Ratte (born 14 February 1948) 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 ...

laid a complaint of murder against president

at the police headquarters in Pretoria for the Shell House massacre. The

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

granted amnesty to 11 people concerning the massacre.

References

External links

AfricaFiles homepage Sunday Times - Print Edition
{{Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) Conflicts in 1994 Massacres in 1994 Events associated with apartheid 1994 in South Africa History of the African National Congress Inkatha Freedom Party History of Johannesburg Protests in South Africa 1990s in Johannesburg March 1994 events in Africa 1994 murders in South Africa 1990s massacres in South Africa

Description

Aftermath

See also

References

External links