Anti-Apartheid Bodies’ Office Wrecked by Blast

An explosion early today shattered a six-story office building used by church and anti-apartheid groups, and police said 23 people were injured. The structure was declared unsafe for further use.

The type of explosive, which was believed planted in the basement parking garage, and the identity of the bombers were not known, police said.

Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu blamed “the perpetrators or supporters of apartheid” for the attack.

The injured included passers-by, residents of nearby apartment buildings and employees of the South African Council of Churches, the main occupant of Khotso House, which means House of Peace in the Zulu language. Several nearby shops and apartment buildings also were heavily damaged.

The Rev. Frank Chikane, general secretary of the council, said the blast destroyed the council’s fleet of cars parked in a basement garage. He said police barred workers of Khotso House from entering the building and expressed concern that the council’s files might be searched.

‘Continuous Campaign’

It was the second explosion to wreck the Johannesburg headquarters of anti-apartheid groups. Last year, the offices of the main black labor federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, and several of its affiliates were severely damaged.

The union congress described today’s bombing as part of a “continuous campaign against the opponents of apartheid” and said it has heard nothing from police about investigations of the 1987 blast at its headquarters.

Khotso House serves as headquarters for the council of churches and the Black Sash civil rights group, two of the most prominent anti-apartheid organizations that have so far remained unaffected by government bans.

Several other church and human rights groups have offices in the building, and it housed offices of the United Democratic Front before the nationwide coalition and 17 other groups were banned in February.

Tutu Sees ‘New Low’

The church council, which represents most major Protestant denominations except the Afrikaner-oriented Dutch Reformed Church, has taken a lead role in the anti-apartheid movement since the bannings.

Tutu, a leader of the church council and winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-apartheid campaigning, said the bombing “represents a new low in the behavior of those who seek to destroy the witness of the church against the evil and un-Christian policies of the South African government.”