Strijdom Square massacre

On 15 November 1988, a man named Barend Strydom carried out a shooting spree at Strijdom Square in Pretoria, South Africa, near Johannesburg, killing eight people and injuring 16 others. Strydom was later convicted and sentenced to death for the attack. It was one of many shootings during the apartheid struggle. The square itself has since been renamed Lilian Ngoyi Square.[1]

Strijdom Square, as it appeared at the time

The attack

The Delmas Treason Trial was ongoing in Strijdom Square when Strydom, age 23, opened fire on 15 November 1988, killing eight and injuring 16.

Perpetrator
Barend Strydom
Born
Barend Hendrik Strydom

15 July 1965
Criminal penaltySentenced to death,
released in 1992
Details
Date15 November 1988
Location(s)Strijdom Square,
Pretoria, South Africa
Killed8
Injured16
WeaponsVektor Z88 (Beretta 92FS clone) 9mm

Barend Hendrik Strydom (born 15 July 1965) was born in Wenen, Natal, South Africa. He joined the South African Police, but was dismissed after photographing himself with a decapitated motorist at the scene of an automobile accident.[2]

A week prior, on 8 November 1988, he had killed a woman and injured another person. After the attack, Strydom claimed he was the leader of the White Wolves (Afrikaans: Wit Wolwe), but this was later dismissed as a fictitious organization invented by Strydom. He also said that he had meditated and prayed a number of days before the attack and said that God had not given him any sign to not to carry out the attack. He was sentenced to death; However, in 1990, the government declared a moratorium on capital punishment. In 1992, he was released from prison by President F. W. de Klerk as one of 150 political prisoners.

Memorial

On the 30th anniversary of the attack, on 15 November 2018, the names of the victims were read aloud in a ceremony. A commemorative plaque was dedicated in the square, created by Bradley Steyn, who had witnessed the massacre as a teenager.[3][4] The ceremony was attended by Carl Niehaus, a spokesperson from the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association, and two family members of the victims.[5]

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References
  1. Robinson, Marguerite (16 November 1988). "Nagmerrie in Kerkstraat" [Nightmare on Church Street] (Newspaper) (in Afrikaans). Johannesburg, South Africa: Die Beeld.
  2. What became of the Big Wit Wolf?
  3. Langa, Phumlani (14 November 2018). "A dark day remembered: 30 years since Strijdom Square massacre".
  4. Moore, Estella (16 November 2018). "Barend Strydom was horrifying inevitable outcome of apartheid".
  5. Sakhile Ndlazi (16 November 2018). "Strydom's Scars Still Run Deep" (Internet). South Africa: PRETORIA NEWS. Retrieved 28 January 2019.


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