On 29 January 1980, ANC President, OR Tambo, issued a statement acknowledging Silverton Trio’s membership of the African National Congress (ANC) and made a tribute to their actions. “The Apartheid security forces stormed the bank and our comrades were slaughtered in the process. Nevertheless, even under such conditions the Silverton Three acted with restraint and did not injure any of the civilians in the bank”.
The statement followed an incident on 25 January 1980, wherein three Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Cadres – Stephen Mafoko, Humphrey Makhubo and Wilfred Madela – were allegedly on their way to carry out a planned MK sabotage mission on petrol depots at Watloo, near Mamelodi. En route, ‘the Trio’ realised they were being tailed by the police. In an attempt to escape, they took refuge in a branch of Volkskas Bank in Silverton, Pretoria.
Based on the witnesses’ statements, just before 13:00, on 25 January 1980, in Pretoria Street, Silverton, witnesses were walking past the north entrance of a branch of the Volskas Bank, and they saw two men remove a couple of rifles from a bag before rushing into the bank. The men hustled everyone back into the building. One of the gunmen said his group were freedom fighters interested in “Black Power” only, and that they did not want any money, as they had been trained in Angola.
Apartheid Police Captain, Christiaan de Swardt, arrived at the bank and saw about twenty-five hostages, white men and women, with their h
