HIT SQUAD TRIAL

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Magnus Malan, the former defense minister of South Africa, and ten other ex-military leaders were in a Johannesburg courtroom Thursday to answer charges that they trained an Inkatha-Zulu "hit squad" that massacred 13 black ANC sympathizers. "Coming right after the elections, the timing of this trial has angered many whites on the right wing," says Hawthorne. "They see this as victimization of whites, because some blacks who have been involved in political violence have been given anmnesty, while whites who were involved in the same kind of violence are being brought to court. The trial won't split the country, however. South Africa has a deeply entrenched legal system, which the new government has adopted. And both sides have said they are willing to let the process work." The ANC security minister said the investigation would go forward even if it was necessary to bring former President F.W. De Klerk to court. Malan and his co-defendants were released on bond and ordered to surrender their passports. They are scheduled to be back in court on December 1.