South Africa says apartheid-era foes fan violence

By Wendell Roelf

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's security chief accused rightwingers linked to the former apartheid government on Friday of fanning anti-foreigner violence that has spread to Cape Town, the second largest city and tourist centre.

At least 42 people have been killed and more than 25,000 driven from their homes in 12 days of attacks by mobs who have stabbed, clubbed and burnt migrants from other parts of Africa they accuse of taking jobs and fuelling crime.

The South African government has been criticized for its slow reaction to the violence, which started in a Johannesburg township on May 11, and for not adequately addressing poverty widely blamed for the bloodshed.

But Manala Manzini, head of the National Intelligence Agency, told Reuters people linked to former apartheid security forces were stoking the violence.

"Definitely there is a third hand involved. There is a deliberate effort, orchestrated, well-planned," he said.

"We have information to the effect that elements that were involved in the pre-1994 election violence are in fact the same elements that have re-started contacts with people that they used in the past."

Manzini said some violence emanated from worker hostels where Zulu migrants traditionally live.

Much of the township bloodshed in the final years of apartheid involved brutal clashes between supporters of the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress, which has been in power since the end of white rule.

SHOCK

Africa Union chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said he was shocked by the attacks.

"The general feeling is of shock and disbelief on the current assaults and killings carried out indiscriminately against foreigners in some parts of South Africa," he told reporters in Arusha. "These are nothing but acts of thuggery."

South Africa's Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka apologized to those affected by the attacks while visiting Nigeria, one of the countries whose citizens are threatened.

"The violence is regrettable and shocking ... I want to apologize to those who have been affected and want to give the assurance that those who are responsible will be dealt with by the law," she said before meeting Nigeria's vice president.

Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in Moscow, said the violence was giving her country a "very bad image", and that the government would deal with it decisively.

"It's a very embarrassing issue and a very serious issue," she told Reuters after meeting Russian ministers. "It's giving us a very bad image and we are serious about stamping it out."