On the afternoon of 20 May 1983, two African National Congress (ANC) cadres, Freddie Shangwe and Ezekial Maseko, drove to Church Street in Pretoria and parked their vehicle in close vicinity of the building which housed the South African Air Force (SAAF) headquarters. Their intention was to detonate explosives at 16h30, a time when many of the SAAF personnel who worked in the building would be exiting or waiting at a bus stop near the entrance of the building. For some unknown reason, the explosives were detonated prematurely at approximately 16h20. A huge explosion ensued, causing great loss of life and injury as well as extensive damage to property. The explosion was reported to have killed nineteen people of whom eleven were members of the SAAF and 217 were wounded.
The bombing took place against the backdrop of Government's attempts to introduce constitutional reforms to grant some representation to sections of the Black population in parliament through a Tricameral Constitution. The ANC was strongly opposed to this step, which was considered to be purely cosmetic. In retaliation, the apartheid government launched an attack on the Mozambiquan capital, Maputo, where underground ANC officials were stationed. An estimated six civilians were killed and forty injured in this raid.
