Plenty of people were not sorry Nkabinde died. In the final years before the fall of apartheid, he was a self-described ““warlord’’ for the African National Congress in its fight against the rival Inkatha Freedom Party. But in 1997, three years after Nelson Mandela and the ANC won South Africa’s first free elections, Nkabinde was accused of having spied for the apartheid regime and was booted out of the new ruling party. Nkabinde landed in the UDM, a nascent party made up largely of ANC defectors and outcasts like himself. A rising star in his new party, Nkabinde was despised by members of his old one. They accused him of masterminding a bloody vendetta against them in 1997 and 1998. As news of Nkabinde’s death spread, ANC supporters literally danced in Richmond’s streets.
In fact his death could not have come at a worse time. In less than six months South Africa will hold its second democratic election–crucial to solidifying its democracy. Now, observers warned, Nkabinde’s killing could inaugurate a bloody campaign season in KwaZulu-Natal. They didn’t have to wait long. The following night, four intruders burst into a wake at the Richmond home of an ANC official and massacred 11 people. In response, the government dispatched hundreds of police and soldiers in full battle gear. Few locals really felt safe. ““I don’t see an end,’’ despaired Betty Ndabezitha, 50, sitting in the same room where her 11 relatives were gunned down. ““Even the police cannot help us.''
So far the authorities have had little success in sorting out the war between the ANC and the UDM. Of 116 evidently political murders in Richmond since May 1997, none has been solved–though for a time Nkabinde was a suspect in some. The killings began a month after the ANC expelled him, halted for seven months while he was in jail facing 16 counts of murder and resumed after he was freed for lack of evidence last April.
Nkabinde swore he was innocent, and his death is unlikely to end the trouble. Before the 1994 elections Mandela made a truce with Inkatha. But the ANC has refused to extend a similar offer to the UDM. The ANC mayor of Richmond, Andrew Ragavaloo, says the UDM must admit to a role in the murders before talks begin. He points out that the only other official suspect was Mbongeleni Mtolo, a Nkabinde bodyguard and UDM official. Only minutes after the massacre at the Ndabezitha family’s house, police shot Mtolo dead nearby. He was carrying an automatic rifle that had been used in the murders.
Many South Africans think a conspiracy lurks behind Richmond’s political violence. They say a reactionary ““Third Force’’–like the apartheid-era clique that covertly armed Inkatha–is trying to weaken the ANC by fomenting chaos. The theory is that police and military holdovers from past apartheid are working with white supremacists and Inkatha to arm UDM militants. ““Richmond is a laboratory’’ for these groups, says peace monitor Mary de Haas. ““If they can destabilize it, then they’ll move to the rest of the country.''
Perhaps they already are. Late last week, a bomb detonated at lunchtime outside the central police station in Cape Town (box). That’s on the other side of the country from Richmond, but could only add to the election jitters. While survivors buried Nkabinde and the 11 ANC massacre victims, police appointed a special team to investigate the attacks. Fearing a new outbreak of violence, election officials put off the scheduled start of voter registration until this week. But given recent history, it seemed unlikely that a few days’ delay would be long enough for the hatred to cool.
IN CAPE TOWN, A THREE-WAY WAR THE BOMB BLEW during lunch hour, erupting outside Cape Town’s main police station last Thursday. Eleven people were wounded, but the psychological damage may be far greater. The blast came a day before the launch of Operation Good Hope, a campaign by police, government and civic groups to curb violence in South Africa’s tourist capital. ““We have had enough,’’ said Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo. ““We are not going to allow you to intimidate us … [with] your cowardly terror tactics.''
For more than a year, Cape Town has been racked by a three-way war among police, drug gangs and Muslim groups. Last August, a bomb went off at the Planet Hollywood restaurant on the waterfront, killing two people. Lately the war has escalated to murderous attacks on the police. Last week’s pipe bomb resembled 15 others used in attacks attributed by police to militant Muslims, who deny involvement. ““This is meant to demonize Muslims,’’ says a spokesman for Muslims Against Oppression, which had been linked to one attack. Whoever planted the bomb, the message is clear: no one is safe.
