From: wsargeant@IGC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:South Africa, Alexandra resembles w'
Date: 7 Apr 92 16:50:20 GMT
Article-I.D.: cdp.9204071650.AA11864

/* Written  5:03 am  Apr  7, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "SOUTH AFRICA: ALEXANDRA RESEMBLES W" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: SOUTH AFRICA: ALEXANDRA RESEMBLES WAR ZONE AS FIGHTING CONTINUES


an interpress service feature

by philippa garson

johannesburg, apr 4 (ips) -- alexandra township this week
resembled a war zone as hundreds of people continued to flee the
violence between supporters of the inkatha freedom party (ifp),
the african national congress (anc) and ordinary residents.

while the fighting in the over-populated, predominantly
shanty township bordering johannesburg's affluent northern
suburbs friday showed signs of abating, residents fear the
violence, which erupted last week after several explosions in
recent months, will never end.

residents accuse the conservative and predominatly zulu-based
ifp of trying to take over their township. they also accuse the
police of siding with inkatha by flushing them (the residents)
out with teargas whenever they encroach on inkatha strongholds.

many residents say they are not members of the anc and that
it is not an anc-ifp ''war'', but a ''war'' between ''us
residents'' and the ifp.

young emma lekanyane, who lives only metres from the battle
ground, told ips: ''the police are the ones doing the shooting.
we are not supporters of any organisation but we don't want
these inkatha people here. we have to force them out and the
police, too, must leave.''

the national peace accord, signed in september between the
government, anc and ifp, has so far failed to quell the violence
in alexandra where residents are determined to ''fight to the
death'' to stop inkatha from taking over their homes.

''they are still fighting there and i cannot leave to go to
work. my house is near the corner up there. they'll burn my
things,'' said one man, a gun in his pocket.

the man said he had been engaged in running battles and had
not slept since monday.

several people told ips how they had been hounded out of
their hostel, and the shacks and houses that border the hostel,
which has become an inkatha stronghold.

for days, anc ''comrades'' in alexandra, armed with pistols,
petrol bombs and even ak-47s, have been battling to rout out
inkatha ''warriors'' who are holed up in several shacks and
caravans near their hostel. (more/ips)


south africa: alexandra (2)

inkatha supporting hostel-dwellers, also armed with heavy
ammunition, have been firing ceaselessly on alexandra residents
in an attempt to force them out, and capture even more
territory.

the township's ''peace forum'', comprising representatives of
the two warring organisations (anc and ifp), has apparently lost
control of the situation as people battle to protect their homes
and possessions.

women and children have either left the area, abandoning
their shacks and houses to an uncertain fate, or are sheltered
in churches and community centres to avoid the raging gun
battles.

one frightened middle-aged woman scurried outside her shack
to pull her washing inside. ''we have not slept since monday,''
she says. ''we are terrified.''

nursing sisters at the alexandra clinic say they have treated
hundreds of people for gunshot and stab wounds in the past few
days.

about 20 people have been killed in the violence so far and
the highly-charged political funerals have only served to stoke
up the violence again.

ips this week witnessed the setting alight one of the houses
recently occupied by ifp and used by them as firing point.

hector moekena stood by and watched his mother's house go up
in flames.

''we were forced to move out of there tuesday by the people
in the hostel,'' he told ips. ''but we cannot blame the comrades
(for setting the house alight). we blame those people that
chased us out and moved in.''

in 1986 alexandra, known nowadays as ''beirut'', erupted on
a similar scale when residents fought running battles with
police in what became known as the ''six-day war''.

but this war is far worse, alexandra residents say.

one alexandra resident called ''philip'', who did not give
his surname, told ips it is ''pathetic'' that while the
apartheid chapter was ''closing'', a ''war'' between the blacks
was raging.

philip believes elements in the predominantly white police
force, known as the ''third force'', were fuelling the ''war''
among the blacks. (end/ips/pg/tvh/apc/ar/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african,alt.discrimination,alt.politics.correct