Fighting Words In South Africa? : Mandela verdict, Zulus, white extremists dash hopes

South Africa is at a boiling point. Growing tensions pit blacks against blacks, and a growing number of whites against whites. The violence threatens future negotiations between the white minority government and the leaders of the black majority. There is no sign of peace, no sign of calm.

THE VERDICT. A white judge convicted Winnie Mandela Monday on kidnaping and assault charges stemming from an incident in her Soweto home that led to the death of a 14-year-old activist. That decision is certain to harden her husband, Nelson Mandela, the deputy president of the African National Congress. Can the calm elder statesman who spent 27 years in prison be expected to urge dialogue if his wife’s legal appeals fail and she, too, is sent to prison?

Winnie Mandela is controversial, but only in some circles. She recently lost an election to head the ANC’s Women’s League. Yet she remains widely popular with young, hard-core ANC followers. These young loyalists are sure to be enraged by her conviction, and by attacks on their ranks by supporters of the rival, Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party.

THE ATTACK. Hundreds of Zulus armed with automatic and traditional weapons stormed a squatters’ camp near Johannesburg on Sunday. During the murderous rampage, they killed 27 people and set fire to 112 homes. Witnesses claimed that state security forces colluded with the Zulus; witnesses reported that armed men were ferried to the settlement in armored cars. If true, that kind of unwelcome intervention is no way for the government to stop the factional killing that has claimed 4,000 lives in four years.

President Frederik W. de Klerk must respond once and for all to charges of collusion. The massacre should also persuade De Klerk to add traditional Zulu weapons to the list of weapons he banned last week in the townships. The rampage made it clear that these spears and clubs are indeed weapons of death. De Klerk should ignore the arguments of his friend, Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi. The ambitious head of Inkatha claims that a ban on traditional weapons would be an open invitation to war. To permit the weapons, however, is an open invitation to more killing.

The government’s response to this latest round of murder must calm the avenging factions. The threat of another oppressive state of emergency and a ban on all political parties would incite rather then soothe. Another crackdown, complete with mass arrests, would also erode some of the international support that has begun to develop because of the progress De Klerk has made in repealing apartheid laws.

THE THREAT. Black South Africans are not alone in their anger. White South Africans became incensed on Saturday after white police officers shot at white farmers for the first time since the government began dismantling apartheid nearly 16 months ago. Two right-wing farmers were injured during the protest aimed at evicting black squatters who were trying to reclaim the land they were born on. The police were simply doing their job. But, for the first time, they were treating white protesters in the way that the authorities typically treat black protesters. Angry whites have threatened a revolution pitting Afrikaner against Afrikaner if police open fire again “on their white brethren.”

De Klerk must do everything he can to reduce the violence and make further progress toward negotiations between the government and the black leaders.

The ANC leadership must hold firm to the conviction that South Africa must become a non-racial and democratic society. Dialogue--on the immediate hurdles and the long-range hurdles--is the best way to reach that goal. But, unfortunately, recent events surely have weakened the resolve to talk rather than fight.