Johannesburg - Police were last night investigating an explosion with potentially ominous implications at the South African headquarters of Microsoft, the US-owned software international company, Patrick Laurence reports.
As a prime symbol of global capitalism - which has enemies in South Africa despite the decisive shift to the centre by the African National Congress since it came to power in 1994 - an attack on Microsoft by politically-motivated saboteurs would send alarm bells ringing in the security establishment.
The blast occurred before dawn yesterday when the only staff present were security personnel. No one was injured.
The 150 Microsoft employees, most of whom provide back-up services to the users of its systems, were instructed to work from home or to visit clients, thus giving police a clear field in which to start their investigations.
There was conjecture yesterday that the explosion might be linked to the explosion at Planet Hollywood on the Waterfront in Cape Town in 1998. Like Microsoft, Planet Hollywood, part of a worldwide chain of restaurants, is a high-profile American target associated with global capitalism.
