SA cross-border raid in Maputo kills several

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

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Several people were killed in Operation Beanbag, an attack by the South African army on the planning and control headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC) in Matola, a suburb of Maputo, Mozambique. Three houses were attacked and largely destroyed. Portuguese engineer Jose Ramos was "mistakenly identified" by the South African forces as Joe Slovo, one of the raid's main targets, and was shot at a roadblock. Numbers of people killed vary between twelve and twenty-four in different sources. Three were allegedly abducted. The raid was planned by Section A of the security police, headed by Colonel (later General) Jac Buchner and assisted by Major (later Brigadier) Callie Steyn of Military Intelligence (MI).

How we know this

01Coleman, M. (ed)(1998). A Crime Against Humanity: analysing the repression of the apartheid state, Johannesburg: Human Rights Committee, p. 132.
02Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). SA cross-border raid in Maputo kills several. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012447

South African History Online (2011) 'SA cross-border raid in Maputo kills several', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012447 (Accessed: 7 October 2026).

South African History Online, SA cross-border raid in Maputo kills several [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012447, (accessed 7 October 2026).

"SA cross-border raid in Maputo kills several." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012447. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "SA cross-border raid in Maputo kills several." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012447.