Dinzkop, near border of Mozambique
Dinzkop was a small town, situated near a small river in North Province, South East Africa. The village had been founded at the turn of the century by Boer refugees following the Second Boer War, and this heritage was what made Dinzkop an anomaly in North Province. The town's population of around 560 was predominantly (some 98%) Afrikaans speaking whites, and while white majority towns were not all that uncommon in the other provinces, the same could not be said about the 95% black North Province where the white population was mostly to be found either in the Urban areas or as isolated farmsteads, rather than a single concentrated community. Indeed, it was the only such town in the entirety of the province. This small village however, would become the ground zero for events that would threaten to plunge the entire nation into a full scale civil war.
A single older man sat at the top of the town's old wooden water tower, just barely able to read his newspaper in the dying light of the sunset. He finished the paper and shook his head. Crazy times. Communist protests in the cities, a riot in a township, racists in parliament doubling down on their nonsense and dreaming of the return to apartheid, while the communists and socialists continued with their complaints that the government wasn't doing enough to correct the injustices of the past. He set down the paper and picked up the rifle that lay next to him. Out here, the people of Dinzkop had their own problems. A few nights ago, gunshots where heard coming from the direction of several isolated farmsteads late in the night. Most people out here owned multiple firearms and hearing the odd gunshot or two from hunters or farmers scaring off local predators from their herds was the norm, however these gunshots were larger in number than what was usually heard. To be safe, several people decided to drive over to the farms the next morning to make sure all was well, and what they found was completely horrific. The first farm's single owner was found dead on the edge of his property, mutilated and torn to pieces and almost completely unrecognizable. The second farm was even more horrific, with the entire family found to be in much the same state. Horror and shock gripped the town once the people who discovered them returned, and the provincial authorities were immediately contacted. However due to the remoteness of the town, it would most likely take a day or two for them to arrive. That night, the (not so distant) roar of a lion or lions could be clearly heard. While extremely rare, it was not unheard of for lions to kill people out in this area and there were even several incidents where they would enter homes and attack people inside them. Even homes that were situated right in the middle of towns and villages. Seemingly having the mystery solved, the village set fires and built a makeshift kraal of thorn branches around the edge of town and decided to keep at least one armed person to keep a watch for extra safety.
Hours after night had fully descended, the man scanned the flat land surrounding the village, dimly let by the flickering fires dotted around the perimeter. In the distance, four large objects were moving slowly in the direction of town, making the mans heart jump when he saw them. Fearing the worst, he loaded the hunting rifle and brought the scope up to his eye. He hesitated...they were cars...pickup trucks to be exact...with people standing in the beds. He had barely realized what they were when screams were heard from the other side of town accompanied by shattering glass and automatic gunfire. At the sound of commotion, the vehicles turned on their lights and picked up speed, driving straight into town while the machine guns on the back began firing at the homes and buildings around them. Yells and shouts arose as what seemed to be hundreds of armed men broke from their hiding places completely surrounding the village and began firing RPGs and throwing molotovs at buildings. Shocked, the man in the water tower began firing at the unknown attackers, bringing several down until an RPG was fired at the tower, silencing the shooter as the raid continued on the town.
When the provincial authorities arrived in the town the next day, they could have never have imagined what awaited them. The town was a burned ruin, with almost every single one of the Cape Dutch style structures burned to the ground or reduced to rubble. The worst part, however, were the bodies. Hundreds of them. It appeared as though every single man, woman, and child had been massacred. Most were found still in their homes or even beds, evidently killed before they even knew what was happening. They had been mutilated, as if mauled by wild animals. Others however, were found in a group against a wall as if executed, and in one instance, several villagers bodies were found in the general store with the building surrounded by dozens of what evidently were the perpetrators of whatever had happened. On the ruins of the town hall was painted a crude symbol of what appeared to be a Kalashnikov crossed with a tapanga-a symbol commonly used by the Shona People's Revolutionary Front.
The Dinzkop Massacre became breaking news across the nation and abroad, rocking it to the core. While minor attacks or even murders against white farmers by groups such as the SPRF had sporadically occured since the 70s, nothing on this scale had ever occured. As the detail of the symbol discovered was released, the SPRF officially claimed responsibility for the attack. SPRF leader Mayeso Mandlate made an official statement in the following days:
For too long have the native and rightful people suffered under the yoke of the South East African government. For too long have the whites presumed to enforce their will upon us, exploiting us and segregating us, failing to even consider us people. They say that apartheid ended in '98. I say to that, where is the change? We remain exiled to townships and slums. The disparity between the blacks and whites remain. They government drones on about seeking change nd rectification of the apartheid era, yet where is this change two decades later? Where is this unity? There can be no unity when the anti-communist white government prevents any actual policies and ideas from passing. The fools, white-lovers, and puppets of the United Communist Party naively think that they can play the whiteman's game in parliament and bring the change that is needed, and are useless. Worse than useless, they are traitors and collaborators. Only through revolution can we be free. The time has come for a nation for the people, and by the people. Only through revolution and violence will we be heard and liberated. As of today the former provinces of Groensberg, North, and Fallsland are officially the sovereign territory of the SPRF, and we will not rest until every white invader, every man, woman, and child is purged from our lands, and the institutions and supporters of the government are expelled. Dinzkop is only the beginning.
One Boer, One Bullet!
Attacks against government assets and whites in the claimed provinces began to occur and escalate in the days following the declaration, and the President of South East Africa, Ricus Van Zyl declared a state of national emergency. The South African Army and Airforce had immediately begun deployment to the north of the country. Groups of citizens of all races in remote towns of the three claimed provinces began taking up arms and forming "Kommando" militias in the interest of self defense against the rising number of attacks by the SPRF and allied groups. At the encouragement of the far-right party Kring vir Broederskap en Trots, white-nationalist paramilitary groups began forming and have begun arriving in the volatile area in increasing numbers under the guise of defending villages and farms. However, reported violence against black villages and civilians have begun to come in, with the suspected perpetrators being members of these groups.
South East Africa is a powder keg, and it seems that the fuse has already been lit with no hope of extinguishing before it explodes.
