Walvis Bay remembers butchery bomb

Although almost forgotten by many, friends and family members of the victims of the Atlantic Meat Market bomb on 2 August 1986 cannot forget.

The Walvis Bay butchery, which was built in 1951 by Walter Hertzberg, was a popular shopping destination for residents, especially on Saturdays.

Here they bought unique meat products, like smoked bones, jagwors and hardewors.

Former Atlantic employees Vera Steenkamp and Regina Adams remember the Saturday morning on which a bomb exploded at the butchery, which is now known as Charlie’s Meat Market.

“There were many customers, as most people shopped on Saturdays. The bomb suddenly exploded right where I was standing at around 11h45,” Steenkamp says.

She was attending to a young couple.

“Both died, along with our receptionist, who was standing near me, while the counter fell on me. My boss instructed us to lie down quietly.

“I later saw one of my colleagues on the floor and tried to wipe the blood off her face, but I realised I was naked. We were all transported to the hospital by ambulance, where confused faces were staring at each other, still trying to grasp what had happened,” Steenkamp says.

Her eardrums were damaged in the incident and she cannot hear well. She also has scars on her legs.

DEAD OR ALIVE?

Adams remembers opening her eyes, lying on the floor, wondering if she was dead or alive.

“I felt blood on my face and I could not feel my legs. I only saw smoke and heard voices, until I saw people coming in with beds.

My leg was in an awkward position.

She says everyone at the hospital was screaming in pain.

“Our bodies were burning. We could have also died, but God was gracious,” she says.
Adams says she panics on 2 August every year.

“I had normal legs until that day. Sometimes it is difficult and painful to walk,” she says.

Hedrina Fanderiku woke up with pain in her chest on 2 August and went to the doctor.

She passed by the butchery to buy liver and encountered the incident a few minutes after entering the shop.

‘BODIES FLYING’

“I saw bodies flying through the air, including a baby that landed next to me. I was so confused. We were holding on to each other.

“I walked out of the butchery in confusion, but was loaded into an ambulance. I suffered burn wounds on my chest. The hospital was so crowded. It was terrifying.”

Fanderiku says the nurses were trying to attend to everybody, especially the child victims.

Some victims were rushed to Windhoek, while the dead were covered with sheets and taken to the police mortuary.

“I cannot forget the way that baby fell,” she says.

Sisters Amanda and Sonia Rodkin from Narraville still cannot come to terms with the way they lost their brother and his wife.

Morris and Hettie Rodkin, who were 30 years old at the time, went to shop for a gift and meat for their youngest son’s third birthday celebration when they died.

“I was an employee at the market and was talking to them. My brother always stayed in the car while his wife shopped, but on that day, they came in with the children.

“After a while, he took the children to the car and returned. He was still lovingly holding his wife when the bomb exploded. His wife died at the scene, while he succumbed to his injuries at the hospital,” Amanda says.

It is a day she will never forget, she says.

Amanda had to help her parents raise her brother’s three sons.

“They are now grown men,” she says.

Amanda was just 15 years old when the bombing took place.

“I stayed at the house with the boys, trying to calm them down while the adults went back to town. My father returned later, full of blood.”

She says the incident broke her father.

“Today, these people are not really remembered. I still think something needs to be done to remember them,” Amanda says.

ORPHANED

The Rodkin couple’s eldest son, Marlon, says he remembers the confusion.

“I remember the sound of the blast like it was yesterday. I remember being put back into the car and rushed home where we had to stay with my aunt. It was all very confusing. My little brother could not speak yet, but started to speak a week after that.

“I think the shock of seeing everything at close range shook him. I find it hard to visit my parents’ graves. I am a father now and I am tryng to tell my daughter about her grandparents. She does not really understand yet.”

WHITE BAG

Some of the employees remember a man entering the butchery with a white bag and leaving a few minutes later.

Residents, however, continue to speak about the unity among Walvis Bay and Swakopmund residents as they grappled with the events of that day.

The bombing was a suspected act of terrorism, allegedly perpetrated by a Swapo member.