A fresh wave of attacks on African National Congress exiles during the last few days has claimed four lives in three Frontline states – and one of the incidents has revealed the first signs of the banned organisation successfully defending itself.
The ANC claimed in a statement from Lusaka yesterday that the two men killed by a bomb outside a house in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, were attackers whose bomb was prematurely detonated by gunshots from ANC officials.
In another incidents o South African refugee with ANC connections was gunned down in cold blood in a restaurant in Manzani, Swaziland, on Wednesday night.
Well-placed sources in Swaziland said Sipho Ngema, a registered refugee in the early 30s and believed to be an ANC members was having supper in a Mozambican restaurant just off the main road of Manzani. Two men approached him, greeted him and shot him dead. The shooting came only days after another alleged ANC member was mysteriously gunned down in Botswana, near the Zimbabwe border.
The Herald of Harare, which usually reflects government thinking, blamed South Africa for the car bomb. In Pretoria, a spokesman for Defence Minister Magnus Malan denied that South Africa was responsible for the bomb. He said the blast was being used by the ANC and the SA Communist Party to detract from problems between the two organisations.
However, Pretoria has repeatedly warned neighbouring states to expect retaliation if they harboured ANC guerrillas, the mostrecent warning having been issued in December. – Howard Barrell, Harare, and Weekly Mail Reporters
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
