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Shell House massacre
Part of the run-up to the 1994 South African general election
Shell HouseShell House (South Africa)
Date 28 March 1994; 30 years ago (1994-03-28) Location Shell House, Johannesburg, South Africa26°11′57″S 28°02′47″E / 26.19920°S 28.04641°E / -26.19920; 28.04641 Result Amnesty granted to 11 people
Casualties and losses
19–53 dead

The Shell House massacre was a 1994 shooting incident that took place at Shell House, the headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC), in central Johannesburg, South Africa in the lead up to the 1994 elections.

Description

Shell House (not to be confused with Luthuli House, 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 (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 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

Part of a series on
Apartheid
Events 1948 general election Coloured vote constitutional crisis 1956 Treason Trial Sharpeville massacre Rivonia Trial Soweto uprising Church Street, Pretoria bombing Vaal uprising Trojan Horse Incident Khotso House bombing Cape Town peace march CODESA Assassination of Chris Hani Saint James Church massacre 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis Shell House massacre
Organisations ANC APLA IFP AWB BBB Black Sash CCB Conservative Party DP ECC FOSATU PP RP PFP HNP MK PAC UDF Broederbond National Party COSATU Security Branch SACC SADF SAIC SAMA SAP SACP State Security Council
People Vernon Berrangé P. W. Botha Steve Biko Mangosuthu Buthelezi F. W. de Klerk Ruth First Bram Fischer Arthur Goldreich Chris Hani Bantu Holomisa Joel Joffe Ahmed Kathrada Albert Luthuli Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Mac Maharaj D. F. Malan Nelson Mandela Govan Mbeki Thabo Mbeki Raymond Mhlaba Benjamin Moloise Albertina Sisulu Walter Sisulu J. G. Strijdom Joe Slovo Robert Sobukwe Helen Suzman Adelaide Tambo Oliver Tambo Eugène Terre'Blanche Desmond Tutu H. F. Verwoerd B. J. Vorster Jacob Zuma
Places Bantustan District Six Robben Island Sophiatown South-West Africa Soweto Sun City Vlakplaas
Related topics Afrikaner nationalism Apartheid in popular culture Apartheid legislation Cape Qualified Franchise Disinvestment campaign Freedom Charter Internal resistance to apartheid Kairos Document Music in the movement against apartheid Nostalgia for apartheid Project Coast Sullivan Principles
Category
v t e

The incident triggered a state of emergency across eleven magisterial districts in the East Rand, as well as the whole of the KwaZulu and Natal province.

In June 1995, ANC and then President Nelson Mandela admitted that he had given the order to defend Shell House, even if it should require killing people. In 1995 Willem Ratte laid a complaint of murder against president Nelson Mandela at the police headquarters in Pretoria for the Shell House massacre.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission granted amnesty to 11 people concerning the massacre.

See also

• List of massacres in South Africa

References

1. Presentation by his Majesty King Zwelithini Goodwillka Bhekuzulu, King of the Zulu Nation to Mr. Nelson Mandela, President of the African National Congress, 8/04/94 Archived 30 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine South African Government Information
2. ^ ZeroEightyFour (27 September 2012). "The Death of Apartheid - The Whites Last Stand". Archived from the original on 19 December 2021 – via YouTube.
3. "Police say IFP negligence led to massacre". Dispatch Online. 16 October 1997. p. 2. Archived from the original on 17 February 2005.
4. du Toit, Pierre (1995). State Building and Democracy in Southern Africa: Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. US Institute of Peace Press. p. 244. ISBN 1878379461.
5. Tribune, Chicago. "SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW NIGHTMARE". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
6. "The sad saga of KwaZulu-Natal". africafiles.org. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2006.
7. Printer, Government; Government Printer (1996). "Debates of the National Assembly (Hansard)". Issues 10-12 (10–12): 3295. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

External links

• AfricaFiles homepage
• Dispatch Online
• Human Rights Watch
• Sunday Times - Print Edition

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v t e Political history of South Africa
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Events	Pre-colonial Bantu migrations Battle of Salt River 1652–1815 Dutch settlement French Huguenot settlement Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars Xhosa Wars Battle of Muizenberg Battle of Blaauwberg Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 1815–1910 Mfecane 1820 Settlers Great Trek Boer Republics Transvaal Civil War Mineral Revolution Witwatersrand Gold Rush South African Wars South Africa Act 1909 (National Convention) 1910–1948 South West Africa campaign Maritz rebellion Rand Rebellion Great Depression 1946 African Mine Workers' Union strike Bantustans Apartheid 1948 general election Apartheid legislation Pass laws Internal resistance Coloured-vote constitutional crisis Defiance Campaign Congress of the People Freedom Charter Women's March 1956 1957 Alexandra bus boycott Sharpeville massacre 1960 republic referendum International isolation UN Resolution 1761 UNSC Resolution 591 Academic boycott Disinvestment Constructive engagement Tar Baby Option Sporting boycott Olympics Rugby union Rivonia Trial Durban Moment Border War Israeli alliance Israel–South Africa Agreement Mafeje affair Soweto Uprising Weapons of mass destruction Project Coast Church Street bombing 1983 constitutional referendum Langa massacre Rubicon speech Operation Vula Dakar Conference Transkei coup d'état Ciskei coup d'état Venda coup d'état Third Force CODESA Storming of the Kempton Park World Trade Centre Bisho massacre 1992 apartheid referendum Saint James Church massacre Bophuthatswana crisis Shell House massacre Post- apartheid 1994 general election Government of National Unity Reconstruction and Development Programme Truth and Reconciliation Commission Arms Deal Floor crossing Soweto bombings African Renaissance Travelgate Xenophobia Attack on Kennedy Road Blikkiesdorp Marikana massacre 2012 Western Cape farm workers' strike Nkandlagate Racism 2014 platinum strike #RhodesMustFall protests #FeesMustFall student protests Tshwane riots 2019 service delivery protests 2019 Johannesburg riots COVID-19 pandemic 2020 Phala Phala Robbery 2021 unrest Lady R incident
Political culture	African nationalism Afrikaner Calvinism Afrikaner nationalism Anarchism Azania Baasskap Boerehaat Black Consciousness Movement Cape Independence Day of the Vow Greater South Africa Honorary whites Rooi gevaar Slavery Swart gevaar Uitlander Volkstaat
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Histories of political parties	African National Congress Democratic Alliance Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
Category

• Conflicts in 1994
• Massacres in 1994
• 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 South Africa
• 1994 murders in South Africa
• 1990s massacres in South Africa