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Special Report Transcript Episode 16, Section 3, Time 32:09

There’s another matter Chairperson which you might want to refer to which was I think was described at the time as the Silverton bank siege. This is the only instance in which cadres of Umkhonto we Sizwe took hostages. There were three cadres who were going on some operation. They realised that they had been spotted by the police, and ran into a bank. They got into the bank and they tried to move all the civilians who were there to go and huddle in some corner while they talk to the police, making various demands. It was not planned, there was no plan to go into a bank and take people hostage. It was something that happened at the spur of the moment because they were confronted by the police. As they were negotiating with the police, the police stormed the bank, killed all three cadres who were in the bank and two civilian women, Valerie Anderson and Anna de Klerk.

Notes: Thabo Mbeki; Footage of the Silverton bank siege

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Glossary
On 25 January 1980, MK operatives held people hostage in a raid on a bank in Silverton, Pretoria. In a shoot-out with the police, three operatives and two civilians were killed.
 
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