In the 1980s, relations between Botswana and South Africa were strained. Anti-apartheid groups like the African National Congress used Botswana and other countries in Southern Africa as refuge. The ANC set up bases in Gaborone that issued crash courses for guerilla attacks; under the guise of weekend tourists, new recruits would receive training on grenade handling and a list of targets to attack. Despite Botswana's non-alignment policy, the South African Defence Force conducted several cross-border raids to stop the groups. In 1981, the Botswana Defence Force purchased Soviet weaponry. PresidentQuett Masire justified the deal as a way to allow BDF to better prevent groups like the ANC from crossing into South Africa. Shots were fired across the Botswana-South African border in April 1982. Grenade attacks earlier in the week outside Cape Town that killed two South Africa members of Parliament and news of an expected attack on Pretoria in July 1985 pushed General Constand Viljoen to launch the attack. The following locations were identified as MK safe houses in Gaborone by the SADF:
Plot C, Tlokweng: Safe house used for ANC training of the Transvaal and Western Cape suicide squads
Plot A, Tlokweng: Occupied by "George" who accommodated terrorists
7819 Broadhurst: Occupied by Duke Machobane, provided accommodation for Umkhonto we Sizwe
13212 Broadhurst: Occupied by Nkukwane Motsweni, alias Mkhulu, responsible for the transportation of trained terrorists from Zambia to safe houses in Botswana
2914 Pudulugo Close: Occupied by Mike Hamlyn, responsible for accommodating terrorists and for transporting ANC recruits attached to the "Transvaal Suicide Squad"
Cycle Mart Building: housing the offices of the intelligence gathering apparatus of the ANC in Botswana and who also distributed a propaganda pamphlet in "newsletter" form aimed against South Africa
15717 Broadhurst: Occupied by George Pwale, controller of ANC financial affairs and responsible for the bomb blast at the Carlton, Johannesburg, in December 1976.
The attack
Around 1:30 am on 14 June, South African soldiers crossed the border into Botswana. To lead the attack, the SADF employed former operatives of the Selous Scouts, a special regiment of the Rhodesian Security Forces. General Viljoen stated that the soldiers used megaphones to urge the residents of Gaborone to hide in their houses while the raid occurred. According to Manuel Olifant, a policeman involved in the raid, the SADF readied around 50 tanks, helicopters, and jet fighters in Zeerust for use if Botswana retaliated, but they were not needed.
Casualties
Twelve people were killed in the attack. A partial list follows:
Mike Hamlyn, a South African student who was studying in Botswana
Thamsanga Mnyele, a South African graphic artist and guerilla
Dick Mtsweni, a 71-year-old man employed by the ANC as a driver.
Aftermath
Witnesses say that civilians were killed despite what SADF reports said at the time. Muff Andersson, a former member of MK, said that instead of attacking legitimate targets, the SADF instead arbitrarily picked ANC sympathisers to "teach the ANC a lesson". She asserts that the SADF "did not care who was killed."
Reactions
: At first, the attack was shown in a positive light by the South African press. A memorial, Freedom Park, was built in Pretoria to honour those who died in this attack and others during the apartheid years.
: In 1985, the representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations said that South Africa "in no way justified the violation of sovereignty and the killing or wounding of innocent people." In 1986, the United Kingdom announced that it would provide military aid to Botswana to stop South Africa's raids.
: The raid prompted the United States to recall its ambassador to South Africa.
On 17 June 1985, the United Nations representative of Botswana sent a letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council asking for help to deal with the raid. The representative from South Africa sent a letter on the same day stating that Botswana had been warned about harbouring groups like the ANC, citing that "a State had a right to take appropriate steps to protect its own security and territorial integrity against such attacks." The Botswana Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the evidence of terrorist activities starting in Botswana was fabricated. South Africa responded that since Botswana did not sign the Nkomati Accord, a non-aggression pact with South Africa, the ANC was able to use Botswana as a base for its attacks. Resolution 568 was drafted on 21 June 1985 that ordered South Africa to pay Botswana for damages, allowed Botswana to house refugees, and encouraged other countries to help Botswana and condemn South Africa.
