Mandela Leaves Rally as Shots Fired

President Nelson Mandela was escorted from a rally in South Africa’s Zulu heartland in an armored car after about 30 shots were fired in and around the stadium where he was speaking Monday.

“I don’t think he himself was scared, but lots of shots were fired, so we took him away in a Nyala (armored car),” Maj. Robbie Cooke said at Durban’s Umlazi stadium.

Police said most of the 30 shots were fired into the air during the rally at which Mandela warned he could cut funding to KwaZulu-Natal province if the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party continues to threaten his central government.

Asked whether Mandela was in danger, Cooke said: “I wouldn’t say so. If that was the case, he would have left sooner. It was his own security personnel’s decision for him to leave in a Nyala.”

The 76-year-old president was taken to a nearby airport, where he boarded a helicopter that took him to his official residence in Durban.

Police said six people were shot and wounded during and after the rally. It was not clear whether they were members of Mandela’s ruling African National Congress or Inkatha, which holds regional power.