party could then be ignored, but not the IFP, which controlled a large ter-
ritory and millions of potential voters. 58
In March and early April, violence escalated to even higher levels in
KwaZulu and the Johannesburg area. Nigerian reporter Dele Olojede de-
scribed the tragic situation in a typical war-torn township-Umlazi,
just
south of Durban-in
a New York newspaper on March 27: "The town-
ship, a collection of mud huts and red-brick matchbox homes scattered
over the slopes of conical hills, is a virtual chessboard of exclusive ANC- or
Inkatha-controlled neighborhoods. Thrown into the mix is an assortment
of warlords, gangsters, and thugs who enforce political codes that allow
anything but plurality. Mere valleys-or
sometimes a collection of burnt-
out huts-divide
the territories. "59 On March 28, the IFP staged a massive
demonstration
in Johannesburg.
Thousands of Zulus, armed with their
"traditional weapons," marched through the city center. Snipers shot at
them on the way, and when they reached Shell House, the ANC headquar-
ters, the ANC security officers opened fire. By day's end fifty-three people,
mostly IFP demonstrators, lay dead. 60
Mandela, de Klerk, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), and