ANC claim responsibility for a land mine explosion which kills six

Date: 15 Dec 1985
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

ANC claim responsibility for a land mine explosion which kills six

Six people, including three children aged between three and nine, were killed and three seriously injured in a landmine explosion on the fenced-in Chatsworth game farm 25 kilometres to the west of Messina (now Musina), Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo). Johannes Frederick van Eck, his wife, son and daughter were spending the December holidays with friends, the De Nyschen family, on the farm. They were game viewing along a private road when their car detonated the landmine. The day after this attack, the African National Congress (ANC) announced from Lusaka that it accepted responsibility for the event. The two Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) members responsible for planting the landmine, M.Z. Mncube and M.E. Nondula, were initially jailed but received amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for their actions.

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How we know this

01Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.
02SAPA LANDMINE EXPLOSIONS FEATURE PROMINENTLY AT MPUMA TRC [online] www.justice.gov.za [Accessed on 3 December 2013] Rule, Shelia (1985): 'Land Mine Kills Six in South Africa.' Article published in the New York Times on 16th December 1985 and available at https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/16/world/land-mine-kills-6-in-south-afri... (last accessed 15th December 2016). https://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.co.za/2013/07/nelson-mandela-bomb...

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). ANC claim responsibility for a land mine explosion which kills six. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012631

South African History Online (2011) 'ANC claim responsibility for a land mine explosion which kills six', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012631 (Accessed: 24 July 2026).

South African History Online, ANC claim responsibility for a land mine explosion which kills six [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012631, (accessed 24 July 2026).

"ANC claim responsibility for a land mine explosion which kills six." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012631. Accessed 24 July 2026.

South African History Online. "ANC claim responsibility for a land mine explosion which kills six." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012631.