South African Conflict Deteriorates

The situation in an apartheid South Africa has deteriorated as reports of further abduction and assault emerge.

South Africa has recently seen some of the more serious consequences of the legal racial segregation; put under effect since 1948. Violence has significantly risen over the years amongst the split society with details of riots and shootings being reported every week.

Last Tuesday news spread of the first of many abductions taking place in the Capetown capital. Dandali Osundare(46) was said to have been assaulted, brutally beaten and taken from the safety of his own home after several men (concealing their identity with face masks) burst into the businessman's small bungalow. The whereabouts of Dandali are yet unknown but it has been confirmed by nearby neighbours that he was taken in large black jeep. Terrified, the locals refused to give further details afraid of arriving at the same fate.

These distressing scenes have become far too common for residents of the more rural areas of South Africa as local surveys suggest most of these incidents go unreported due to the growing fear most of the nation is gripped with. Akanni Niyi(36) was one of the many unreported cases in Bhisho until friends and relatives of the lawyer spoke out of the morning he was beaten : ' They picked Akanni up one morning. They beat him like clay. Then stuffed him down inside a waiting jeep'

With the increasing number of unresolved incidents it raises the question as to whether or not the South African government can truly handle the situation.