Apartheid SADF Wits Command Headquarters Bombed
On 30 July 1987, a car bomb was detonated outside the headquarters of the apartheid South African Defence Force (SADF) Witwatersrand Command army base in Drill Hall, on Quartz Street, Johannesburg. The car with explosives in it blew up in front of the Witwatersrand Command army base, shattering all the windows in the vicinity and damaging buildings.
The bomb was set to go off at a time when most children would be at school and people at work. It was set up to deliberately target those guarding and staffing the military buildings. The eventual costs of the attack resulted in one SADF member being killed and injuring sixty-eight military personnel and civilians. Millions of rands of damage were caused by the explosion, resulting in more than 120 buildings in the surroundings being affected. The Sterland complex, which was near the Wits Command had a huge hole blown in the wall, as bricks were thrown all-over the street and the pavement. At the time, this was regarded as the biggest bomb ever exploded since the beginning of the armed struggle in South Africa.
120 kilograms of high explosives were used, which were reinforced with four-five-kilogram hollow charges that were meant to direct the force of the blast. Additionally, limpet mines and other small arms were placed in a compartment that was specially built behind the seats of the bakkie. In order to conceal the smell of the explosive charges, bitumen and paint were us
