15,000 Mourn Slain ANC Backers
Mourners massed in the black township of Sebokeng on Sunday to bury 39 African National Congress supporters killed in a recent massacre, and police reported seven people killed in unrest nationwide.
Meanwhile, leaders of the nominally independent Ciskei homeland said Sunday their military foiled a coup attempt and killed the rebel leader, identified as a former member of the ruling Military Council.
The report of the seven deaths came two days before a planned meeting of the nation’s most powerful black leaders--Nelson Mandela of the ANC and Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi of the Inkatha Freedom Party--considered crucial to ending fighting between rival black groups.
Police and the military, concerned about possible violence at the Sebokeng funeral, set up roadblocks on streets leading into the township outside Johannesburg. About 15,000 people gathered in the township stadium, where coffins were displayed on the field.
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