South Africa Politics

In the second major massacre in a week, a Zulu army of more than 200 men cut a swath through this township late Saturday and early Sunday, setting fire to passing cars and gunning down residents in their homes. By dawn Sunday, 30 people in an African National Congress stronghold of Tembisa were dead, including 5-month-old Bathando Ngabayena and his parents, who were executed by men in white headbands who burst into their bedroom and opened fire.

Flying to South Africa requires patience and perspective. All of Africa seems to be spread out below as the plane zigzags its way to Johannesburg on a curious route. The plane must burrow through endless clouds, for although its presence in African airspace may be tolerated, the plane may not land unless invited. Mt. Kilimanjaro, snow-capped and majestic, juts abruptly from the desert floor, rising like a kingdom in the clouds. Miles later, the outline of Nairobi's airport comes into view.

Onetime Defense Minister Magnus Malan and other members of the former apartheid regime's top military hierarchy were acquitted of all murder and conspiracy charges Friday in a dramatic close to this young democracy's most sensational political trial.

His face alone sends nervous shudders through South Africa's powerful white business Establishment. And when he speaks, his brand of political fire and brimstone can make the most even-tempered magnate turn pale with anger. The object of this hatred--and, some say, fear--is Jay Naidoo (NIGH-doo), the 37-year-old general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the country's most powerful labor federation.

The African National Congress won solid control of South Africa's Parliament, but final election results Monday showed that it failed to win the power to change the constitution. The ANC came up just one vote short of the two-thirds margin needed to unilaterally amend the constitution. The ANC had denied suggestions by opposition parties that it wanted to do so to amass greater power.

Of the many democratic changes since this country's first multiracial elections in 1994, South Africans are especially proud of their new constitution. The document not only enshrines basic rights such as those in the U.S. Bill of Rights, but bars discrimination based on race, age, gender and sexual orientation. It even addresses the right to water, housing and health care.

Leaders of the Congress of South African Students, meeting here this week, are pledging to make the Western Cape province "ungovernable." Expect picketing, boycotts, sickouts and strikes in the coming weeks, they warn. Teachers and other trade union groups, who last month led a march on the provincial legislature, are considering further disruptions. Some extremists, according to one report, have even threatened to burn down this city.

A panel probing apartheid-era atrocities rejected amnesty applications from 27 leaders of the ruling African National Congress, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki, who is almost certain to succeed President Nelson Mandela after the June 2 election, and other senior ANC figures sought amnesty for collective responsibility for acts carried out by ANC members during the fight against white rule.

Police fired tear gas Sunday to prevent street clashes, and officials from the nation's ruling party came under gunfire after the killing of an opposition leader and the massacre of 11 people. Sifiso Nkabinde, 38, a controversial leader of the small United Democratic Movement party, was fatally shot Saturday as he sat in his car in Richmond, a town 300 miles southeast of Johannesburg.

Election day in this village off the main highway from Pretoria will be a nuts-and-bolts affair. Most everyone who goes to the polls Wednesday is expected to mark the second box from the top: African National Congress. "Many expectations from the last vote have not been met," said Jabulani Mtsweni, a local ANC activist who has been canvassing voters. "But we've been patient for 350 years--why can't we be patient for another five?"