The Faded Memory of the 1994 Bree Street Bombing
Bree Street after the bomb. Photo: Annika Langa 30 years ago, on Sunday the 24th of April 1994, right-wingers planted bombs near the ANC offices in down town Johannesburg and in a taxi rank in Germiston. 21 people were killed and 92 injured. The aim was to disrupt our first democratic elections that were to start in 48 hours. Although this was, and still is, the largest act of bombing terrorism in Johannesburg´s history, not much has been said about it. In many ways, it feels like a faded memory. An internet search doesn´t give a whole lot of hits either. I was there that day with my husband Paul. We had worked almost the whole night and slept unusually late. In fact, I was woken up by the loud bang at 09:50, but it wasn´t a sound that I recognized. Still half asleep, I assumed it must have been thunder. It wasn't. It was 200 pounds of explosives that had been packed under a beige Audi. My husband Paul immediately realized that something was wrong. He got up and threw on a blue w
