 At the time of the attack, they reported to Joe Slovo as chief of staff, and the Church Street attack was authorised by Oliver Tambo.The ANC's submission said the bombing was in response to a South African cross-border raid into Lesotho in December 1982, which killed 42 ANC supporters and civilians, and the assassination of Ruth First, an ANC activist and the wife of Joe Slovo, in Maputo, Mozambique.It claimed that 11 of the casualties were SAAF personnel and hence a military target.