World Notes South Africa

President F.W. de Klerk was pulling no punches. In a speech before his governing National Party in the conservative stronghold of Ventersdorp last week, he accused right-wing groups like the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (A.W.B.) of "looking for trouble." Even as he spoke, local A.W.B. extremists who oppose his dismantling of apartheid were doing just that. Hundreds, clad in khaki, marched on the hall where he was appearing and clashed with police in a melee that left at least three dead and 53 injured.

Officers hurled tear gas at the protesters. Amid the smoke, sporadic gunfire rang out for 15 minutes as authorities drove back the advancing A.W.B. members. A block away whites hurled rocks at a van carrying blacks. When the vehicle lost control and toppled into the crowd, killing one extremist, enraged whites opened fire and at least four blacks were injured. Ironically, De Klerk came to Ventersdorp to seek the support of rural white conservatives, who are rapidly deserting the National Party because of his reforms.