Mandela Blames Rival in Killings of ANC Workers

ANC leader Nelson Mandela on Sunday blamed his main black rival, Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, for a massacre of young African National Congress election workers.

Attackers used automatic weapons and knives early Saturday to kill 15 ANC supporters--12 of them teen-agers--preparing to conduct a voter education program in the Natal village of Mahele, 300 miles southeast of Johannesburg. Police have been unable to trace the attackers.

Buthelezi, the head of the Inkatha Freedom Party, condemned the massacre. But Mandela said the Zulu nationalist is fanning violence with his opposition to the country’s first all-race election.

“These are the results of that talk, which we regard as irresponsible talk,” Mandela told reporters Sunday.

Mandela criticized calls from leaders in the violence-torn Natal region to resist the April 26-28 vote.

“One of them has gone so far as to say he does not want to lie and to promise the people of Natal that there will be no bloodshed in the course of their campaign to disrupt the election,” Mandela said at a news conference.

That was a reference to Buthelezi, who told a rally of his followers earlier this month that his call for an election boycott could lead to violence.