Zuma Scrambles to Defuse Racial Tensions

South African President Jacob Zuma appealed for calm yesterday as growing racial tensions in South Africa sparked fears of violence in the wake of the killing of white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche. Zuma called the murder a "terrible deed" and urged South Africans not to fall prey to "agent provacateurs" inciting racial hatred, the Guardian reported.

White supremacists called Terreblanche's murder by a group of his black employees a "declaration of war" and warned international soccer teams to stay away from the upcoming World Cup. The ANC denied any link between a controversial "shoot the boer" song spread by one of its youth leaders and the killing of Terreblanche. The farm workers who bludgeoned Terreblanche said they killed him in self-defense after he refused to pay them their monthly wages and threatened to kill them when they went to his farm for the money.
(More Eugene Terreblanche stories.)