Susanna Loof PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) In a country where violent crime is an everyday
occurrence, the fatal shooting of three Blacks by a white assailant in South
Africa has drawn an unusual amount of attention.
The case underscores how sensitive the race issue is, six years after the end
of apartheid.
Police Capt. Morne van Wyk said race was being investigated as a possible
motive in Wednesday's shooting in an upscale Pretoria suburb. A white gunman
boarded a bus crowded with Black commuters and opened fire, killing three people
and wounding four.
The gunman then fled and was still at large Thursday.
The attack drew immediate condemnation from the government and evoked
memories of attacks by white extremists before South Africa held its first
all-race elections in 1994.
Local leaders called the attack a hate crime, and Smuts Ngonyama, spokesman
for the ruling African National Congress, suggested ''lunatics in our society''
opposed to racial reconciliation were to blame.
''It may be based on racial hatred, but it's difficult for us to be specific
because the investigation is continuing,'' he said. ''We can't rule out extreme
right-wing elements.''
President Thabo Mbeki appealed for calm and sought to play down the race
issue.
''The color of this person and the victims, for our immediate purposes, is
not important,'' said his spokesman, Parks Mankahlana. ''This is a South African
that killed and injured other South Africans. That is why (Mbeki) is appealing
for calm and rational behavior.''
In the poor Black township of Mamelodi, just east of Pretoria, some residents
were angered by the attack.
''The killer is moving the country back. He's got an apartheid attitude,''
said Elizabeth Nkosi, who sells popcorn along a township road.
Township resident Solomon Kalonga agreed.
''The atmosphere in South Africa has not changed a lot,'' he said. ''There
are still those who cling to the old order.''
But Maureen Rossouw, who lives in a wealthy, white Pretoria neighborhood,
said she believes the attack had nothing to do with race. Still, she said she
feared it would reinforce the misconception that all white South Africans are
racist.
''It should not have happened,'' she said. ''The majority in South Africa
want peace and unity.''
Associated Press