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Durban beach-front bombing
Durban beach-front bombing
Part of the history of Apartheid
	Durban Durban (South Africa)
Location	Durban beach-front, Natal Province, South Africa
Date	14 June 1986
Attack type	Car bombing
Deaths	3
Injured	69
Perpetrators	Robert McBride of the African National Congress

On 14 June 1986, the Magoo's Bar at the Parade Hotel on the beach-front area of Durban, Natal Province, South Africa was attacked with a car bomb, killing three civilians and injuring 69 others. Robert McBride, a leader in Umkhonto we Sizwe (the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress), was convicted of carrying out the attack and sentenced to death, but later reprieved and released.

Bombing

The attack, also known as the Magoo's Bar bombing, was carried out by detonating a car bomb, killing three civilians and injuring 69 others. The bar was targeted as it was claimed to be "frequented by security branch police".^[1] Reports sometimes give the name of the bar as the Why Not Magoo's Bar, but in fact the Why Not Bar and Magoo's Bar were two different bars attached to the same hotel.^[2]

Robert McBride was convicted and sentenced to death, but was reprieved while on death row, and released in 1992 by president F. W. de Klerk during South Africa's political transition. He has subsequently held a number of prominent positions in the country.

After the end of apartheid following the 1994 elections, the Truth and Reconciliation Committee was established in 1996. McBride applied for and received amnesty for his role in the attack. The TRC found that the bombing was a "gross violation of human rights".^[3]

References

^ "Magoo's Bar is bombed | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
^ Rostron, Bryan (2019-11-05). "The night McBride and friends blew up Magoo's Bar". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 2019-09-13. At the side of the hotel was Garfunkel's Restaurant, while in front, on either side of its entrance, were two of Durban's most popular taverns: on the left the Why Not Bar, and on the right Magoo's Bar.
^ "The Liberation Movements from 1960 to 1990" (PDF). Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report. 2. Truth and Reconciliation Commission: 333. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2016-05-03. The consequence in these cases, such as the Magoo's Bar and the Durban Esplanade bombings, were gross violations of human rights in that they resulted in injuries to and the deaths of civilians.