ANC in battle to curb violence: Black activists are trying to control crime in the townships. Karl Maier reports from Sharpeville

THE PLEA came in a telephone call Lucky Phahlane received one Friday evening from a journalist at the South African Broadcasting Corporation. A two-man SABC crew had been attacked in the township of Sharpeville, their equipment had been stolen, and one of the journalists was missing. The police knew nothing about the incident. Could Lucky help?

As he set out to find a colleague with a car, Mr Phahlane, 29, deputy chairman of the African National Congress (ANC) in Sharpeville, had little hope of quick results. Sharpeville, like neighbouring Sebokeng, Evaton, Boipatong and other black townships in the Vaal Triangle 45 miles (28km) south of Johannesburg, had been wracked by violence, some political, some criminal, for years. Very few cases were ever solved.

'People are sick of the violence here,' Mr Phahlane said. 'This place is in turmoil. There are thugs living among us here, and now they are out of control.'

Mr Phahlane found Hunter Kolisang, 33, the ANC finance secretary in Sharpeville, and the two set out in search of the missing journalist, reporter Calvin Thusago, and the equipment. By midnight they suspended their search as township residents were erecting barricades to prevent outsiders coming in.

Mr Thusago and cameraman Dudley Saunders had come to Sharpeville on 23 April to film graves at a local cemetery desecrated the night before by alleged supporters of Eugene Terre-Blanche's far-right Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB). It has a strong following in the mainly white town of Vanderbijlpark, which borders Sharpeville.

The next day, joined by the ANC Youth League chairman, Daddy Nakana, 20, and Paseka Dineka, 23, Mr Phahlane and Mr Kolisang found a witness. The Rev David Dinkebogile had heard the incident had taken place near the Vuka bottle store. So, on Mr Kolisang's suggestion, the four questioned a street vendor who had watched a heated argument between the thugs and some ANC Youth League activists who had attempted to stop the assault.

They quickly identified two of the alleged assailants, who led them to some of the stolen equipment. They found the house of a third, where the television camera was hidden. They discovered that Mr Thusago had bled to death from a knife wound.

'We were very, very angry because one of the thugs was wearing an ANC badge, but he was not a member,' Mr Phahlane said. 'By wearing that badge he was trying to dent our organisation.' They handed the alleged assailants over to the police. 'We took them to the police because we feared that residents . . . would take justice into their own hands,' said Mr Phahlane. 'The people are tired of being victimised and terrorised.'

Sharpeville has had a history of violence since police gunned down 69 people protesting against pass laws in 1960. In the 1980s, activists attempted to make the townships 'ungovernable', using such tactics as rent boycotts and resistance against the police. However, the tactics, though largely successful, also allowed criminals a free rein. Rampant unemployment, the breakdown of the already inferior black education system, and growing frustration have made thuggery an increasingly popular profession.

The spread of violent crime in the townships has forced local ANC activists to revise their approach towards both the police and the thugs in their midst, and attempt to bring law and order to the townships. The turning point came in October, when the ANC and a host of allied groups representing workers, teachers, women and students held a 'peace summit' at which they pledged to crack down on crime.

'The decision was taken to see that violence abates in Sharpeville,' Mr Nakana said. Since then, ANC activists have apprehended a rapist and youngsters involved in hijacking and burning a car, and handed them over to the police. 'We have done this so that justice is done,' Mr Nakana said.

'The PAC (Pan Africanist Congress) says that all the police must be driven out of the township, but we disagree,' said Mr Phahlane. 'Only the notorious ones must go, but with the others, we work hand in glove. We believe the police must be in the townships, for we have no other way to protect our people. We are now pushing an anti-crime campaign and no-one will stop us.'