Keep Quiet About
That Makharov!!!

9/12/99

Aside from not mentioning that cars suck,
Reuters also forgot to mention
where the Makharov came from.

Probably Russia or China.

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Zimbabwean Diplomat
Shot Dead In S. Africa

By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters)

A senior Zimbabwean diplomat was shot dead
Saturday night in Johannesburg in an apparent
car hijacking, delivering another blow to South
Africa's crime-tarnished international image.

Police said Sunday the Zimbabwean vice-consul
was shot in the head at close range Saturday night in
front of his 11-year-old son after an unknown number
of armed assailants forced them out of his BMW.

Police said the boy was immediately taken
to hospital and treated for shock.

A Zimbabwe embassy official identified the man
as Madzorere Meki but did not give his age.

Police spokeswoman Captain Rochelle Gouws
told Reuters a witness saw a white Volkswagen
Golf speeding away with the stolen BMW.

``We also recovered a 9-millimeter Makarov pistol from the crime scene,''
she said.

She said a thorough investigation was being carried out but
denied press reports that police were close to making arrests.

``We are obviously treating this as a very important case,''
she said.

Meki had been delivering VIP airport permits for
an official who was to meet Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe, who made a brief stopover at
Johannesburg International airport Sunday morning
en route to South America,
the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported.

SAPA said the BMW was later found abandoned
after its tracking system was triggered.

Gouws said BMWs were a favorite target of
the country's hijacking and car smuggling syndicates.

The opposition Democratic Party said in a statement that South Africa's
``already battered image will be battered even more'' as a result of the killing.

Violent crime is rife in South Africa,
which has over 20,000 murders each year.
Crime is fuelled by the country's glaring income disparities,
poverty and an unemployment rate that is close to 40 percent.

Analysts say South Africa is the most dangerous
country in the world outside a war zone -- an
unenviable reputation that has been worsened by a
number of attacks on high profile foreigners and diplomats.

In February, the head of Korean corporate giant Daewoo's
South African operations was shot dead in an upmarket
Johannesburg suburb in an apparent botched hijacking attempt.

Canada's top diplomat in February was tied up and
robbed of his valuables in a Cape Town hotel after an
assailant tricked his way into the envoy's room.

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America has plenty of $$$ for security forces
in Israel and Indonesia but you don't see
anything going to S. Africa's police force.

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