7 Blacks Killed as Violence Erupts Near Cape Town
Seven blacks were killed, at least one by police, and 45 people were injured Thursday when simmering tension in a black township near Cape Town erupted in violence.
Police opened fire repeatedly during the day as crowds of up to 10,000 blacks gathered illegally in demonstrations demanding the resignation of Mali Hoza, the black township mayor of Khayelitsha.
Supporters of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress, the main black opposition group, accused Hoza of corruption and of siding with President F. W. de Klerk’s white minority government.
Tension has been high in Khayelitsha since last week’s slaying of Momsa Mapongwana, wife of an anti-apartheid leader in the township 20 miles east of Cape Town.
Police said the violence broke out shortly before midnight Wednesday when an explosion started a fire at the town council building.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but police said township residents then began hurling stones at police officers, who fired back with tear gas, rubber bullets and birdshot.
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