Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 12, 1994 TAG: 9403120124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA LENGTH: Medium
But the chaos unleashed in Bophuthatswana serves as a chilling reminder of how easily South Africa's transition to democracy could turn into a bloodbath.
The pro-African National Congress uprising forced the black homeland's ruler, Lucas Mangope, to accept the election and eventual reincorporation of Bophuthatswana into South Africa. It was a devastating blow to black and white groups trying to block the vote.
Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi was left out in the cold as the only black homeland leader still reluctant to enter the election. And members of small, pro-apartheid white groups have seen the fate that may await them if they persist in trying to mount a war against a black majority solidly behind the ANC.
Pressure is sure to increase on Buthelezi to abandon his white racist allies and seek accommodation with the ANC, which is certain to lead the government after the April 26-28 election.
Mangope, an unpopular despot ruling over the impoverished black homeland, surrendered to protests Friday and dropped months of opposition to the vote. It took only a signal from the ANC to spark a virtual people's revolution in Bophuthatswana, paralyzing Mangope's government and splitting his security forces in a matter of days.
His capitulation further whittled down the Freedom Alliance, the coalition of pro-apartheid whites and anti-ANC blacks formed late last year to fight the election.
The ANC has negotiated with the alliance while remaining opposed to its demands for sovereign, ethnically based homelands.
Buthelezi, who heads the KwaZulu homeland and is an alliance member, has registered for the election but says he won't take part without guarantees of Zulu sovereignty. Pro-apartheid white parties so far are boycotting the election.
Both groups have threatened civil war if their demands are not met. But the slaying Friday of three right-wing whites by black soldiers in Bophuthatswana - including two executed as they pleaded for help - showed the difficulty of creating a united military force.
The whites, all members of the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement, were killed just hours after arriving and vowing to help Mangope.
Mangope, despite his loathing of the ANC, wanted no part of the white resistance fighters, known for their racist rhetoric and swastika-like insignias.
Hours after he asked them to leave, the whites were killed in a shootout with homeland troops.
The brutal snub of the resistance members is just another instance of the inability of whites to halt the transition to black rule.
by CNB