Apartheid-styrets barske knytnæve er gået bort
Magnus Malan, the defence minister who led apartheid South Africa’s resistance to black rule, has died aged 81, BBC online reports Monday.
He led the white minority government’s “total onslaught” strategy. This included bombing southern African countries which supported the overthrow of apartheid and declaring a state of emergency in South Africa to end pro-democracy protests.
He became the first minister to go on trial for apartheid-era atrocities but was acquitted in 1996. General Malan served as defence minister for 11 years until 1991, when then-President FW de Klerk removed him under pressure from Nelson Mandela.
Mr Mandela accused Gen Malan of setting up hit squads to kill ANC activists and destabilise South Africa ahead of democratic elections. These took place in 1994, with the ANC winning a landslide and Mr Mandela becoming South Africa’s first black president.
During the 1980s, Gen Malan sanctioned raids against anti-apartheid fighters in Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Among them Ruth First (May 4, 1925 – August 17, 1982), who was a white South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar. She was killed by a parcel bomb addressed specifically to her in Mozambique, where she worked in exile from South Africa.
