S. Africa to Weed Out Right-wingers from Army, Police

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 01, 2002

S. Africa to Weed Out Right-wingers from Army, Police

The South African government Thursday vowed to comb out white right-wingers in the army and police who could be part of a plot to plunge the country into a race war.

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The South African government Thursday vowed to comb out white right-wingers in the army and police who could be part of a plot to plunge the country into a race war.

Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota made the tough statement in the wake of nine bomb blasts in the black township of Soweto, 20 km southwest of Johannesburg, killing one woman and injuring one man on Wednesday.

"Our intelligence service must be very thorough in investigating them. We can't afford to have disloyal elements, disloyal to the new non-racial South Africa in our national defense force. We have to identify them and weed them out," he was quoted by local television SABC.

Lekota noted that it is quite clear that there is a group of disaffected whites, however maverick in character.

He said, "It certainly does not represent the majority of Afrikaners... but a residue within the South African National Defense Force and the South African Police Service as well."

"They are a racially oriented group. They want to achieve a race war, that's what they want," he noted.

Lekota said there was no evidence of a military link to a series of bombings on Wednesday, which has been blamed on white racists planning to overthrow the government.

He said that small numbers of white right-wingers opposed to South Africa's democracy remained in all sectors of society, but especially in the farming communities, the defense forces, the police, the civil service and even some churches.

"They don't constitute a majority anywhere... Wherever you find them, they are extremely in the minority but they have the capacity to be extremely destructive. This kind of activity could lead the country into a race war. That is what they want to have happen, a race war, but we are confident that the vast majority of white South Africans will not fall into that trap," Lekota said.

He said a series of racist attacks on black soldiers during the integration period underlined the threat from whites unable to accept the transition to democracy.

He said the police, intelligence, prisons and defense ministries were gathering information on the latest attacks and the rightwing threat and would meet to discuss a strategy soon.

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