S. Africa Vows Added Steps to Halt Township Violence

President F. W. de Klerk said today the government may take additional steps to curb black township fighting that has claimed about 800 lives since August.

De Klerk promised “strong and comprehensive” action but did not elaborate. It was not immediately clear if the plan would include harsher police measures.

African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, who met today with De Klerk to discuss the unrest, said he expects De Klerk to announce the new policies Monday.

Mandela said De Klerk no longer believes that the township violence is solely a black-on-black conflict but that “certain faceless elements” are behind the attacks.

Mandela would not specifically name who the ANC believes is instigating the unrest, but he said, “we have our own suspicions.”

Some anti-apartheid groups have alleged rogue elements of the security forces and white extremists are involved in the fighting. Witnesses in several townships say masked white men participated in recent attacks, but there has been no proof of the claims.

De Klerk said growing violence threatens talks on power-sharing between whites and blacks.

“There are forces which do not wish peaceful negotiations to succeed. All those forces desiring peace must stand together to identify and counter these forces,” De Klerk said.

“The new South Africa, which is the goal of all sincere South Africans, is being threatened by present events,” he said.

The main combatants in the fighting are Zulus loyal to the conservative Inkatha movement and Xhosas and other blacks supporting the leftist ANC.