The Tempe military base shooting was a mass shooting that occurred 16 September 1999, at the Tempe military base near Bloemfontein, in South Africa. Lt. Sibusiso Madubela shot and killed eight people – including seven soldiers and one civilian – before he was shot dead by two soldiers. Four people were injured. During the shooting, Madubela at times pushed black people out of the way to shoot whites, and everyone killed or injured in the shooting was white. Prior to the shooting, his pay had been suspended following a period of absence without leave.

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1999 Tempe military base shooting
Tempe military base Tempe military base (Free State (South African province)) Show map of Free State (South African province) Tempe military base Tempe military base (South Africa) Show map of South Africa
Location	Tempe military base, Free State, South Africa
Coordinates	29.0899°S 26.1873°E / -29.0899; 26.1873
Date	16 September 1999; 24 years ago (1999-09-16)
Target	White people
Attack type	Mass shooting
Weapon	Vektor R4 assault rifle
Deaths	9 (including the perpetrator who was killed by other soldiers)
Injured	4
Perpetrator	Sibusiso Madubela
Defender	Aldo Mattheus
Motive	Revenge for his pay being suspended

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The shooting came after years of tensions in the South African National Defence Force over integration following apartheid, and a resulting inquiry revealed widespread racial tension and discrimination in the SANDF. The inquiry into the shooting revealed evidence that the shooting was a result of the suspension of his pay, and that Madubela had deliberately targeted whites.

The shooting occurred at the Tempe military base near Bloemfontein. It was one of the first military bases to integrate following apartheid,^[1] and was one of South Africa's largest military bases.^[2][3]

The base had experienced previous incidents: In 1996, a white soldier at the base locked three former liberation fighters in a room and attacked them with tear gas. Two years later, a white soldier robbed and killed two black soldiers while they transported military weapons.^[3][4] This theft was blamed on a right-wing group that had been preparing a coup.^[3][5]

Racial tensions were rampant in the SANDF, contributed to by the fact that white officers occupied a disproportionate number of senior posts.^[6][7] A report to the South African Parliament made by the British Military Advisory and Training Team in the year prior to the shooting found that not enough change was being made to alter racial prejudice in the country, and that there were "far-reaching" implications to the hardening of racial attitudes by high-ranking soldiers in the military to the former guerilla fighters in their ranks.^[1][8] One of the injured later complained that it was difficult to get rid of underachievers, and that problematic soldiers were often transferred to other units, before being returned.^[9]

At 8 a.m., Lt. Sibusiso Madubela arrived on base and signed for an R4 rifle, before locating ammunition. Less than an hour later, he opened fire at the 1 SA Infantry Battalion; the first person shot was Captain Hannes de Jager, who was quadriplegic and used a wheelchair. Madubela approached him and aimed his rifle at him. After the door was shut in his face, he fired through the closed door.^[11][15] He seemed to be targeting specific people, and at certain times pushed black people out of the way to shoot whites, sparing more than 20 black soldiers he encountered.^[4][10][15]

Madubela then went on to move down the passage, shooting and killing military course administrator Marita Hamilton, and then Warrant Officer Reg Sieberhagen.^[18] He moved towards the office of Lieutenant Colonel Jan Wessels, who was in Pretoria at the time.^[15] He pointed his gun at his white secretary, but did not fire.^[15] He then proceeded to shoot and kill Major Jacques Coetzer and Sergeant Tertius Lombard.^[15] Major Zirk Coetsee attempted to give first aid to an injured victim, before Madubela shot him in the chest.^[15]

Madubela then ran out into the command offices and into the administration block, where he shot and killed Warrant Officer Johan Lombard. He then proceeded to the duty room, where ammunition is stored, and killed Sergeant Doughie Douglas.^[15] Three other men were in the duty room; they saluted Madubela, then fled.^[19] It was believed he then reloaded his rifle. He then headed out past the base's bungalows, encountering Sergeant Willie Nell, who he promptly shot dead, and ran toward the transport park, shooting Sergeant Major Aldo Mattheus in the leg.^[19][15] Mattheus, also carrying an R4 rifle, shot back. Two other soldiers, who were on their way to shooting practice, backed him up and shot at Madubela, who was killed.^{[1][15][lower-alpha 1]} Madubela still had 16 rounds in his rifle.^[19]

The shooting lasted 15 minutes.^[15] Seven were dead in the immediate aftermath and five were injured, all of whom were white.^[20][21] One of the wounded, Major Zirk Coetsee, died a little over a week later.^[18]

In the aftermath of the shooting, the public was urged not to assume the shooting was racially motivated, though investigators said it "could be" racially motivated.^[20][22] The day after the shooting, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota stated he saw no evidence racism had been involved, and denied statements Madubela had been absent without leave.^[23][24] Lekota visited the battalion and encouraged the soldiers, and explained to them what had occurred. The surviving members of the unit were debriefed by psychologists.^[13][15] Police declined to rule out race as a motive. The commander of Tempe, Brigadier-General Hans Heinze, called for calm in the aftermath of the shooting, and asked for the case to be thoroughly investigated before any conclusions were drawn.^[1]

After the shooting, the minister of defence reported that crime was a rampant issue in the Bloemfontein command, which included Tempe.^[3] Soldiers were ordered not to speak on the record about the racial issues in the military.^[3] Siphiwe Nyanda, the chief of the Defence Force, commented that integration had generally progressed successfully, but that the shooting was "one incident which indicates that there are difficulties and problems which we have not quite surmounted".^[1]

The New National Party demanded an investigation, while the Democratic Party requested a parliamentary debate; the United Democratic Movement argued that the slow transformation of the military would lead to these kinds of incidents. The Boere Weerstandsbeweging, a Boer nationalist party, decried the shooting as racist, and said South Africa had become a "survival struggle for the white man".^[11] Politicians complimented Madubela as a "good soldier" and a "martyr".^[3] Motsoko Pheko, deputy president of the Pan Africanist Congress, stated that Madubela's death revealed that "this nation is living a lie" and that South Africa was "fed with propaganda that all is well".^[3] A retired colonel in the South African Defence Force, Jan Pretorious, said the shooting and incidents like it illustrated a clash of military cultures between blacks and whites, while a psychologist argued that both black and white soldiers in the military had been traumatized from the years of apartheid warfare.^[3]

The families of the victims sued the military for R5 million (then equivalent to 850 thousand US dollars) in damages, primarily for loss of support.^[25][26] Aldo Mattheus and Zirk Coetsee were awarded in 2003 for their actions during the shooting; Coetsee was awarded posthumously, and the award was accepted by his widow.^[27]

After the shooting, a Ministerial Committee of Inquiry was held to investigate the shooting, and whether there was evidence of discrimination or sectarian tension within the SANDF.^[7][8][28] The inquiry found that there was, manifesting in a variety of ways.^[8] The inquiry found that nearly 60 percent of military personnel were black, but 70 percent of officers were white.^[29] An advocate to the inquiry recommended that Mattheus and Anton Otto, who had killed Madubela, not face charges, while the three officers who fled should be prosecuted on charges of culpable homicide.^[19] Evidence presented to the inquest found Mandubela alone was responsible for the deaths, and that the shooting was deliberately targeted at whites; the shooting resulted from the suspension of his salary.^[26]

Other shooting incidents later occurred at the Phalaborwa 7 SA Infantry Battalion and Simon's Town naval base in Cape Town, which involved black soldiers shooting at white soldiers.^[7] There was a second shooting at the same base in 2003, and again in 2006, neither of which were racially motivated.^[30][31]

• Strijdom Square massacre, racially motivated shooting against black people
• 2008 Skierlik shooting