South Africa awoke to its second post apartheid experience of terror on Wednesday with reports that a series of explosions had rocked the township of Soweto south of Johannesburg.
Right-wing extremists came under immediate suspicion in much the same way a predominantly Muslim vigilante group did in the late 1990s when dozens of homemade pipe bombs rocked the city of Cape Town.
Nine bombs exploded in various parts of the vast, sprawling township within a matter of two hours in the early morning hours killing one person and injuring at least one other.
Police announced at a press conference that they had defused an ”improvised explosive device” found at a gas station that could have caused ”massive” damage. It was defused near the scene of the first blast at a mosque.
Shortly before 11.00am on Wednesday, another device — suspected to be a handmade bomb — caused an explosion at a Buddhist temple in the district of Bronkhorstspruit east of Pretoria leaving three people injured.
Police could not immediately confirm any link between the blast at the temple and those in Soweto which appeared to have been the work of experts, according to Justice Minister Penuell Maduna.
Authorities declined to say who they are seeking in connection with the attacks only saying that they are following ”definite leads”.
But speculation was rife on Wednesday that the perpetrators in the Soweto blasts were rightwingers — disgruntled Afrikaners with plans to destabilise and ultimately overthrow the government and ”reclaim” the country.
Eyewitnesses said they had seen two white men acting
suspiciously near the scene of one of the blasts, police
commissioner Jackie Selebi told parliament.
South African President Thabo Mbeki singled out criminals
”seeking to introduce a terrorist campaign into this country” in condemning the attacks.
The government was aware of right-wing groups with intentions to ”conduct a campaign of this kind”, he said in a televised speech.
Authorities also knew that they were manufacturing bombs, some of which have not been discovered, according to the Minister for Safety and Security Charles Nqakula.
”We have committed all our resources as we did with solving
urban terror in the Western Cape,” Intelligence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu told journalists in Soweto.
Members of the vigilante People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) were implicated in a string of blasts between 1998 and 2000 in and around the city of Cape Town.
Several of the group’s bombers and alleged hitmen in the attacks that left three dead and more than 100 maimed or injured are currently on trial in a Cape Town court.
While Pagad is no longer seen as a major threat to stability in South Africa’s new democracy, extreme right-wing elements, who refuse to accept black majority rule eight years after it was instituted, have come
under scrutiny.
Reports that a plot by a group of right-wingers to detonate
explosives at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg in September had been uncovered sparked debate on just how great a threat they posed.
Analysts dismissed as far-fetched reported plans by these groups to sow mayhem within South African society by blowing up dams and other installations and driving black South Africans from the country.
But, the Soweto bombing spree is likely to urge many to review their opinion of those in their midst who want to return to the ways of apartheid.
At least 14 rightwingers from various districts around the
country with links to a ”Boeremag” (right wing extremist group) have been arrested in recent months for plotting against the government.
Last month police confiscated a truckload of weapons apparently destined for use by these extremists.
Investigators, who have been probing right-wing activities for two years, have confirmed that three alleged right-wing ringleaders are still on the run. – Sapa-DPA