Word: johannesburger
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...Coetzee testified last summer that former colleagues on the South African police force were behind the hit-squad deaths of several A.N.C. activists. The parcel bomb was sent to Coetzee in Lusaka. But when he refused to pay the duty on the package, it was sent to Mlangeni's Johannesburg law firm, falsely listed as the return address. Intrigued by a tape marked EVIDENCE OF HIT SQUADS, the lawyer took the tape player home and put on the headset that had been thoughtfully included. A few seconds later its right earphone exploded, apparently triggered by a sound signal...
...packed Johannesburg courtroom erupted in surprise at the start of the trial when prosecutor Jan Swanepoel told Judge Stegmann that a key prosecution witness who was one of the victims, Gabriel Pelo Mekgwe, had been mysteriously "kidnapped" the night before the proceedings. Subsequently, two other victims who were expected to testify against Mandela, Barend Thabo Mono and Kenneth Kgase, refused to speak when they took the stand. Said a terrified Kgase: "I feel strongly about the obligation to give evidence, but it's my life...
...heists. Much of the crime is vicious. A bunch of street toughs recently murdered an elderly New Zealand tourist and stole his wristwatch after he made a wrong turn and wound up in Soweto after dark. "This is because black people are suffering," a black burglar told a white Johannesburg man as he robbed his house and raped a woman friend...
...than 4,000 people have died since clashes erupted in 1986 between followers of the A.N.C. and the Zulu- based Inkatha movement, headed by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Instead of inspiring a new era of peace, Mandela's return has seen the fighting spread to Soweto and other townships encircling Johannesburg. In 1990 nearly 3,500 were killed in black communal violence, the worst year's toll in modern South African history...
...Africa's blacks are desperately poor: at least 7 million live in destitute squatter camps. They will see few dramatic improvements anytime soon. Black unemployment, as high as 41% in some areas, is unlikely to fall quickly. "The future looks extremely bleak," says John Kane-Berman, head of the Johannesburg-based South African Institute of Race Relations. "There is every possibility that the average person will be materially worse off than...