Freedom Without Peace

In South Africa to cover that country's second free election, CBS News Senior European Correspondent Tom Fenton and a his crew almost became part of the story. Their brush with death illustrates the troubles that confront South Africa as it heads to the polls. Here is Fenton's report:

One of the most shocking facts in this remarkable country is the murder rate. The 25,000 homicides last year make South Africa number one in this unenviable statistic. In our effort to illustrate that, we almost became part of the statistics.

The CBS News team of cameraman Rob Celliera, soundman Mike N'tshobodi, producers Dan Mogulof and Sarah Carter, and myself were covering the funeral of an 18-year-old black youth who had been shot dead by another youth in a black township. His funeral, which began with hymns and prayers in the sparsely furnished hall of the community center of Grasmere, ended with a hail of bullets at the graveyard.

Tom Fenton

Several of the gunmen, totally zonked on drugs and drunk to boot, were wildly waving their handguns as they squeezed off rounds. Bullets were whizzing everywhere. Someone shouted, "Shoot the cameraman," and a loaded gun was pointed at the camera team.

At that point we all thought it was the end.

One of the gang members demanded that cameraman Celliera hand over the tape cassette, which he grabbed and stomped on. We lost an interview with the distressed sister of the deceased, but we escaped with our lives.

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