Blood River - Black and white South Africans celebrated the anniversary of one of their bloodiest battles in separate ceremonies yesterday, underlining the slow erosion of racial barriers. Several hundred Afrikaners, dressed in khaki clothing and many with guns, prayed at the site of the 1838 Battle of Blood River.
Barely 1,000 yards away across the Ncome River, 10,000 Zulus danced and chanted war cries dating back to the army of King Dingaan, who was defeated there 160 years ago. "It will be the first time that both the peoples who clashed here are together to pay tribute to those who died on both sides," Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi told reporters.