DATE=9/13/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SAF / SECURITY (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-266450
BYLINE=CHALLISS MCDONOUGH
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: South Africa has stepped up security around
Parliament, after a bomb blast late Tuesday that
appeared to be aimed at a political party meeting.
Government officials say they are "at war" with the
Muslim organization they blame for a recent upsurge in
terrorist attacks. But as our Southern Africa
correspondent Challiss McDonough reports, opposition
lawmakers are warning the government not to alienate
the Western Cape's large Muslim community.
TEXT: Officials in the Western Cape had already
increased security around officers of the court last
week after the assassination of a regional magistrate.
Now, they say they are looking at ways to protect
politicians and other officials in Cape Town, where
South Africa's parliament meets.
National Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete
says South Africa is at war with people who use
instruments of terror. He says he has no doubt that
the recent wave of attacks is the work of the Muslim
vigilante group known as PAGAD [pron: puh-`GAHD] --
short for People against Gangsterism and Drugs.
Just hours before the Tuesday blast, Mr. Tshwete and
Justice Minister Penuell Maduna told Parliament they
have identified some of the people responsible for 20
bombings that have killed three people and injured
more than 100 others over the last two years.
But PAGAD has repeatedly denied any connection to the
attacks. The group has challenged Mr. Tshwete to
prove his allegations, and to bring the real
perpetrators to book [EDS: prosecute].
Opposition politicians -- from the far-right-wing
Freedom Front to the left-leaning Pan Africanist
Congress -- have expressed their concern that police
are limiting the list of possible suspects to PAGAD.
They say there are other terrorist groups operating in
the Western Cape, and they are demanding to know what
evidence the government has to support its charges.
In addition, opposition leaders say the government
risks alienating the Western Cape's large Muslim
community -- most of whom do not support PAGAD.
Western Cape regional premier Gerald Morkel narrowly
escaped injury in the Tuesday blast, but he says he
does not think the attack was directed at him. He
told South African state radio it represents an
escalation in a long-running urban terror campaign
aimed at the state.
/// MORKEL ACT ONE ///
I think that this is an onslaught against the
state and all its organs now.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Morkel says he has seen no evidence from the
recent wave of terrorist attacks that points to any
particular group. He expressed frustration that the
national government is not sharing all of its
information with local authorities.
/// OPT /// Mr. Morkel described how it felt to
narrowly escape injury in the Tuesday blast. He had
just entered the Samaj community center when the bomb
exploded, damaging his car and slightly injuring his
driver.
/// MORKEL ACT TWO ///
It was nerve-wracking. One always hears about
these things, you read about it. And when you
go through a process like this, you are really
shaken.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
Meanwhile, mourners flocked to the Cape Town funeral
of slain regional magistrate, Pieter Theron. The 50-
year-old magistrate was presiding over several
terrorism cases before he was shot to death in his
driveway last week.
Security was tight around the church where friends and
family gathered to pay their last respects to Mr.
Theron. A close friend of the magistrate told the
congregation Mr. Theron made the ultimate sacrifice
for his work -- and his death should be a catalyst for
change in South Africa. (Signed)
NEB/CEM/WTW/JP
13-Sep-2000 12:51 PM LOC (13-Sep-2000 1651 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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