The MJK Unit and the Arrest of the Special Operations Dutch Couple
On 29 June 1985, the media reported that Hélène Passtoors was arrested on the corner of Pritchard and Von Wielligh Streets in Johannesburg the previous day. Passtoors, had entered South Africa on 19 May 1983, driving a cream-coloured Colt Gallant that was used in the 20 May 1983 Pretoria Church Street bombing by Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Special Operations Unit. After delivering the Colt Gallant, Passtoors returned to Swaziland and then to Mozambique where she worked in the linguistics department of Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo.
On 6 and 11 June 1985, Passtoors was trying to help Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim to escape South Africa illegally through the Amsterdam/Nerston border area in the Eastern Transvaal in order to report to the Kabwe National Consultative Conference on his mission inside the country. However, this attempt, which was codenamed “Operation Mango”, was aborted. In 1984, the ANC decided to transfer Passtoors into South Africa to begin the groundwork for “Operation Mango”. Passtoors moved into an apartment in Yeoville, which was in the centre of Johannesburg, but the Security Police already knew about her movements and had rented an apartment directly opposite hers so that they could monitor her activities.
During that time, around 1983 and 1984, the Special Operations Unit was really facing difficult time in Swaziland and accordingly had to relocate to Botswana. Accordingly,
