ANC Calls For Tolerance After Attacks On Supporter

ANC leader Jacob Zuma vowed to take the matter to the country`s electoral commission.

South Africa's ruling ANC on Monday called for political tolerance after a number of its supporters, including a member of parliament, were attacked in the volatile KwaZulu-Natal province.

The unrest came as the country prepared for a general election expected to be held in April. The African National Congress is facing its most serious contest since coming to power in 1994, including a challenge by a breakaway party.

"Everybody must be able to campaign everywhere in the country," ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told South Africa's 702 Talk Radio, adding that the party would not accept the establishment of "no-go areas" by rivals.

ANC leader Jacob Zuma vowed to take the matter to the country's electoral commission.

Violence erupted on Sunday after the ANC held a rally in northern Zululand, a key electoral area for the party and the Inkatha Freedom Party. ANC buses were stoned and a car carrying MP Prince Zeblon Zula and two women was shot at, police said.

All three were injured, according to police.

ANC officials said the IFP, the second largest opposition party, was responsible for the attacks. The IFP denied it was responsible and its leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said he was opposed to the violence and it would not be tolerated.

"I believe the people of this country will resolve their problems through negotiations," he said at a rally on Sunday.

Tensions between the ANC and IFP go back to the apartheid era when the two fought over control of KZN, the traditional home of the Zulu tribe.

Thousands were killed in political clashes between the two in the decade leading to the first all-race elections in 1994.

The ANC and Zuma, who is a Zulu, are hoping to make inroads in the province at the expense of the IFP. That would make up for any losses the ruling party suffers at the hands of the newly established Congress of the People (COPE).

COPE was set up late last year by ANC dissidents who were unhappy by the party's removal of former South African president Thabo Mbeki. The ANC forced him out over alleged meddling in the corruption case of Zuma, his political rival.

The new party also has accused ANC supporters of disrupting its meetings and engaging in low-level political violence.