State of emergency fails to halt Natal violence

State of emergency fails to halt Natal violence

By Judith Matloff

DURBAN, South Africa (Reuter): The state of emergency declared in South Africa's Zulu heartland has failed in its first week to curb violence tearing the region apart and there are too few troops to enforce it, violence monitors say.

President F.W. de Klerk imposed the state of emergency on Natal province and the adjoining KwaZulu homeland last Thursday to quell unrest and ensure the country's first all-race elections proceed as scheduled on April 26-28.

But more than 110 people have died in the region in the past week -- over 20 since Tuesday in one of the most violent 24-hour periods in the region in four years of apartheid reform.

The seven-day death toll is more than a third of the 300 deaths recorded in March, and the daily killings have risen sharply since the emergency was declared.

Violence monitors said on Wednesday the 1,200 troops deployed on the ground were too few to police properly the lush hilly area and stop a virtual civil war between Zulu followers of Nelson Mandela's African Congress (ANC), which is expected to win the polls comfortably, and chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party which is boycotting the elections.

An electoral report issued on Tuesday said it would be impossible to hold free and fair elections in KwaZulu because of the high level of political intolerance and intimidation.

Independent violence monitor Mary de Haas said the troop presence was "better than nothing".

"But there just aren't enough troops to deal with the situation. It's too little, too late," she added.

Other monitors said that while it was reassuring to contact the South African Defense Force with reports of potential flashpoints, police often did not follow up tip-offs and army raids with arrests.

Independent violence monitors in the killing fields of Natal have long complained that the problem is not a lack of security force numbers, but a lack of efficient and impartial policing.

In a graphic example of the apparent powerlessness of the security forces, dozens of police and soldiers backed by armored vehicles, helicopters and dogs looked on as 10,000 pro-Inkatha Zulus defied emergency regulations and marched with their "traditional" weapons in northern Natal on Tuesday.

Police said they had decided not to strip them of their spears, fighting sticks, machetes and knives.

"There would have been a bloodbath if we had tried to disarm them. You can only imagine what would have happened," police spokeswoman Major Margaret Kruger told Reuters.

Asked if this reflected poorly on the security forces' ability to enforce the state of emergency, she nodded and said: "Yes, I guess it does."

"This makes a mockery of the state of emergency," said one international observer, as police gave up searching the dozens of buses packed with marchers arriving at the northern Natal town of Empangeni for the ultimately peaceful march.

Police said they would gather evidence on march organizers, including senior Inkatha members. But it would be up to the attorney-general to lay charges of violations of the emergency regulations banning the carrying of weapons.

Some violence monitors questioned whether there would in fact be a crackdown on Inkatha officials.

Political analysts and monitors said Inkatha's boycott of the elections contributed directly to the increase in violence.

"Inkatha is trying to enforce what they want through sheer terror," said Mary de Haas.

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