Saturday 25 July marks 33 years since gunmen attacked St James church in Kenilworth, killing 11 and injuring 58.

About 1 000 worshippers gathered for the evening service at St James, a parish of the Church of England in South Africa, a more evangelical Christian denomination. Four members of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla), the armed wing of the Pan-Africanist Congress, entered the building armed with assault rifles and hand grenades.

The attack

The attackers threw grenades into the congregation and opened fire indiscriminately. Four of the dead were Russian seamen attending the service through a church-outreach programme. A fifth Russian sailor, Dmitri Makogon, survived but lost both legs and an arm.

One congregant, Charl van Wyk, drew a licensed .38 Special revolver and returned fire, wounding one of the attackers. His action disrupted the assault The gunmen fled before they could carry out a planned petrol-bomb attack on the building.

Memories resurface

The story recently resurfaced after Origins 22, an online genealogy and history community, published a detailed account of the attack.

The platform dedicates itself to preserving South African historical narratives, family histories and cultural heritage. It regularly posts about historical events, places, people and folklore.

The post drew an extraordinary response. Dozens of people came forward with their own memories of that night. Some had never spoken about it publicly before.

First on the scene

Pieter Mostert, a young police lieutenant at the time, said it was his first call-out to such a scene.

“I was called out to the scene and what I found there will forever stick in my mind.”

Ricardo Jacobs, a St John’s Ambulance volunteer, said his crew reached the scene first.

“We opened the doors and saw the carnage and I remember the words of a woman at the church still today, ‘We need more ambulances.’”

An unexpected target

The comments revealed how the massacre touched lives across the peninsula. Several commentators noted the irony. St James had a mixed-race congregation and had opposed apartheid, making it an unexpected target.

Shane Horne, who attended the church as a boy, dubbed it “a multi-racial church”.

Clyde Louw lived 500 m from the church. He was on his way to the service that night but turned back to watch a soccer match on television. His usual seat was near the back entrance where the attackers entered. He said he had never entered a church since.

Amnesty and reconciliation

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) granted amnesty to three of the four attackers in 1998. The TRC found they had acted with a political objective and made full disclosure. The commission struck the fourth attacker’s application from the roll.

In the years that followed, several survivors and bereaved relatives met publicly with the former Apla members. This formed part of South Africa’s reconciliation process. Van Wyk, who had returned fire, eventually met and befriended Letlapa Mphahlele, the Apla commander who ordered the attack.

Not everyone accepted forgiveness. The TRC’s reconciliation narrative, while widely celebrated, left some victims feeling it had silenced them in the interest of national unity.

Still raw

For the commentators on the Origins 22 post, the memories remain raw. Garron Brown said his wife and in-laws were in the church that night. His father-in-law had run the sound system. His wife still spoke about it until she died recently.

Michael John Reuterink said his parents were married in the church about a week later. They had attended the evening service every week for five years, except that night.

Alastair Brauns, a survivor, offered the shortest and perhaps most powerful comment: “I was there. It changed many lives.”

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