Whites Plot Against Tutu, 13 Others, Blacks Charge

Black leaders charged today that a group of whites has been plotting to kill or kidnap Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, and 13 other anti-apartheid activists in the next four days.

A spokesman at police headquarters in Pretoria said, “We have no comment on that at all.” Tutu said he was taking “reasonable precautions.”

The alleged plot against anti-apartheid leaders was disclosed at a news conference in Johannesburg by five of the 14 who said they had been targeted as victims.

Not Reported to Police

They said they had not reported the alleged plot to police, and gave few details.

“We have positive information that within hours we are to be eliminated,” said the Rev. Frank Chikane, a leader of the United Democratic Front coalition who is on bail as a defendant in a treason trial brought against Front leaders.

He said a group of whites had hired 30 blacks as a “hit squad” to kill or kidnap the 14 people and make unspecified international demands for their release. The first “dress rehearsal” of the hit squad was held Tuesday, Chikane said. He did not identify the whites purportedly involved.

Chikane said the alleged victims decided to disclose the few details available “so all South Africans and the international world will know that our lives are at stake,”

Chikane said the attackers planned to make the attacks look like an extension of recent in-fighting among rival black groups, in an effort to derail the anti-apartheid campaign.

“The enemy wants the world to believe that blacks are bent on killing one another. This ploy will be used as propaganda, and to divert the people’s struggle,” Chikane declared.

Taking Precautions

Tutu, the Anglican bishop of Johannesburg, did not attend the news conference but said later he had received news of the purported plot on Monday and was taking “reasonable precautions.”

He said he regarded the plot “as seriously as you take a bomb scare. You know that most are hoaxes, but you always think this one might be true.”

Chikane said supporters had banded together to protect the prospective victims and their homes. He said the group had obtained a tape recording of a conversation detailing the plot and a document listing the names of the targets, but he declined to release the tape or document.