Mourners are shot at Ntuli’s funeral in Thokoza

At least eighteen people were killed on the day of the funeral of Sam Ntuli, an African National Congress (ANC) member murdered on 29 September. During the funeral service, attended by thousands of people in the Thokoza Stadium, six people were reported to have been attacked while making their way to the stadium, while mass killing occurred at the Katlehong taxi rank, where mourners were waylaid and ambushed. Through this incident the National Peace Accord, signed in September 1991, came under serious threat.  The continuing violence raised fears of a new wave of violence between the supporters of the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The incident led to renewed charges of South African Police complicity as the injured identified two attackers as policemen and police Casspirs were allegedly providing support. Although the police denied the allegations, ANC president Nelson Mandela attacked President F.W. de Klerk for his continued silence on alleged co-operation between the IFP and the police. Mandela believed that the police as custodians of peace were supposed to avert faction fighting instead of exacerbating it. The renewed violence threatened all efforts for a negotiated peace and a democratic South Africa.