Rampage hits Cape Province

A violent riot broke out over the weekend in Grahamstown, a city in eastern Cape Province 450 miles south of here, with mobs of armed blacks roaming the city's black townships, burning and looting shops, schools, and private homes, police said. Two men were killed in a clash with police; a third man was stoned to death by rioters. Damage was estimated at several million dollars.

The rioting was triggered by the funeral Saturday of a youth killed in disturbances surrounding a black school boycott against government discrimination in the educational system.

The Grahamstown unrest was the worst to hit South Africa since the Cape Town riots in June killed more than 40 people and injured about 200. Damage then was estimated at more than $9 million.

Meanwhile in Johannesburg, the situation was tense Sunday as 9,000 black municipal workers threatened to strike today (July 28) in sympathy with the 1, 400 contract workers who were fired Friday over a pay dispute. The fired workers at two of the city's power stations were demanding pay increases, from an average of $42.90 a week to $75.40 a week.