DURBAN, South Africa, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A rally Sunday by South Africa's Zulu-led opposition party drew 20,000 supporters as it began its election campaign amidst fears of street violence.
The leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, spoke at the rally in Durban, the BBC said, urging his party's supporters to heed a call by the South African President Thabo Mbeki to refrain from violence and intimidation ahead of the election.
Many who turned out to support KwaZulu-Natal in Durban on Sunday wore traditional Zulu clothes and carried spears and shields.
Inkatha is trying to prevent the African National Congress, which controls the national government, from taking power in the province of KwaZulu Natal.
Thousands died in fighting between the Inkatha and the ANC in the early 1990s.
Buthelezi has pledged to tackle the country's HIV-Aids epidemic as well as bring down the high rate of violent crime in South Africa.
No date has been set for the vote, but the new president is expected to be sworn in on April 27, the anniversary of the elections that ended apartheid.
