Faced with a new wave of popular resistance in the turbulent 1980s, the PW Botha regime embarked on cross-border attacks. Following the attack on Matola, Mozambique in 1981, the SADF inflicted a massacre on the ANC mission in Maseru, Lesotho on 9 December 1982. Most of the comrades were unarmed and unable to defend themselves. Forty-two people died including five Basothu women and children. One of the fatalities was a member of the ANC mission in Lesotho, Sipho Mchunu, who lived in this house. The United Nations imposed sanctions on South Africa arising from its illegal and brutal action.