South Africa, an angry nation on the brink

Graca Machel, the human rights activist and wife of Nelson Mandela, has warned that South Africa is an "angry nation" teetering on the brink of "something very dangerous" if extreme levels of violence in the country are not addressed.

Mrs Machel said the anger came from "unaddressed" issues around South Africa's apartheid past, adding: "We have to be more cautious about how we deal with a society that is bleeding and breathing pain."

Her comments are seen as significant since she and her husband have previously refrained from sharing their views about how the nation is being run since he left the presidency 14 years ago.

Mrs Machel was speaking at the memorial service on Wednesday of Mido Macia, a 27-year-old taxi driver who died in custody after he was tied to the back of a police van and dragged for 500 yards by officers, apparently for arguing over a traffic infringement, in a town west of Johannesburg last Tuesday.

The death of Mr Macia - who was Mozambican, as is Mrs Michel - has reignited concern among South Africans that the brutality of their criminals is now matched only by the violence of their police force.

A visibly upset Mrs Machel told a cheering crowd that the "increasing institutionalisation of violence" was creating a police force "actively aggressive towards a defenceless public".

"South Africa is an angry nation," she said. "We are on the precipice of something very dangerous with the potential of not being able to stop the fall.

"The level of anger and aggression is rising. This is an expression of deeper trouble from the past that has not been addressed. We have to be more cautious about how we deal with a society that is bleeding and breathing pain."

The death of Mr Macia came after other recent examples of police brutality. They include the death of 34 people when police opened fire on striking miners at the Marikana platinum mine last August; the alleged operation by police in Durban of a death squad that killed criminals and, often, innocent bystanders; and the beating death by police of Andries Tatane, an unarmed man taking part in a protest about a lack of basic services in his Free State town. Yet widespread fear of the police has prompted no let-up in the country's rampant criminality.

Mrs Machel's comments will be devastating for the African National Congress, which has ruled South Africa since apartheid and frequently evokes Mr Mandela's name. They coincide with a growing number of attacks on the country's leadership by other prominent figures, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former president Thabo Mbeki.

Allister Sparks, a political commentator, said they reflected a profound unease among the leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle. "It is extremely unusual for Mrs Machel to speak out on any political issues at all and it's very significant that she has done so now," he said.

Adam Habib, vice-chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand, said violence was now endemic in protests about corruption, a lack of basic services and continued inequality. "People feel that extreme violence is the only way they can get heard - and police react in an even more violent way, which is beginning to seep into the national psyche," he said.

William Gumede, the author of a new history of the ANC movement entitled Restless Nation, said South Africa was in the midst of a "perfect storm" of economic factors, historic wounds and social violence. "There is a deep-rooted anger which is a legacy of apartheid but there's also a new resentment towards former comrades who are doing so well when so many lead hopeless lives," he said.

But President Zuma, speaking in parliament yesterday, said: "South Africa is not a violent country. It is certain people in our country who are violent.

"By and large we are not, we are peace-loving people."