500 Blacks Riot in South Africa; Policeman Killed

About 500 blacks rampaged through a rural black township, a black policeman was burned to death at a funeral in another township and a bomb exploded at a Pretoria post office, authorities and news reports said Sunday.

The rampaging blacks set fire to three trucks, 23 cars, two restaurants, a doctor’s office, two shops, a government office and a number of houses Saturday in the township of Nelspruit, about 200 miles east of Johannesburg. Police said they arrested three men and a fourth was slightly wounded in clashes. Police said they did not know what triggered the rampage.

In another incident Saturday, radicals placed a gasoline-soaked car tire around the neck of a black policeman and burned him to death after a funeral in the Pretoria township of Soshanguve.

According to the black City Press newspaper, the policeman, Daniel Lehutso, who was out of uniform, joined mourners at the funeral of John Matlala, a school pupil shot by police about a week earlier. He was identified as a policeman and was attacked by the crowd, who stoned and beat him before they burned him to death, City Press said.