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- <text id=93TT2593>
- <title>
- Jan. 04, 1993: Cleaning Up the Brass
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- Jan. 04, 1993 Man of the Year:Bill Clinton
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK, Page 12
- WORLD
- Cleaning Up the Brass
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>South Africa's De Klerk cracks down on dirty doings in the army
- </p>
- <p> It was a most unseasonal act. Days before Christmas and with
- immediate effect, President F.W. De Klerk suspended or retired
- 23 of South Africa's top officers, including two generals and
- four brigadiers. All are under suspicion of clandestine
- activities--some involving hit-squad murders--designed to
- undermine his political reforms. De Klerk dismissed talk of an
- attempted military coup, saying there was no threat to South
- Africa's security. But criminal charges could follow next year.
- "We're not dealing with kids," he said.
- </p>
- <p> All year long, De Klerk's credibility has been battered by
- charges of dirty dealings within his defense forces. Thus his
- crackdown on these mavericks has almost certainly scored him
- some valuable points--enough, perhaps, that in spite of
- enduring a year of violence, crime and political stalemate,
- South Africans are beginning to see hope for l993. "We are
- closing the year on a high note," Nelson Mandela told the
- Sowetan, Johannesburg's black newspaper.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-