Slaughter on SA streets

RAMPAGING Inkatha supporters clashed with ANC security guards yesterday, turning the centre of Johannesburg into a war zone and leaving at least 20 people dead and nearly 300 wounded. In response, the four key players in South Africa's political crisis announced they would hold an unprecedented four-way summit tomorrow and Thursday.

President F W de Klerk, Nelson Mandela, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini are to meet for the first time after a chaotic march through central Johannesburg by Inkatha Zulus degenerated into mayhem.

Some 10,000 heavily armed Inkatha supporters descended on the city to express anger to protest at the refusal of the ANC and government to allow for a Zulu kingdom in the new constitution. The city, which in effect shut down, was transformed into a battlefield, with the Inkatha warriors - faced by police, army and ANC security personnel - bearing the brunt of the fatalities before retreating back to the townships in mid-afternoon.

Mr de Klerk and the ANC blamed Inkatha for the violence. He said that the sudden shift in focus of the violence from the black townships of Natal to Johannesburg endangered plans to hold the country's first democratic elections next month.

Spears fall before bullets, page 9