By Gill Gifford, Hanti Otto and Reuters
Details are emerging of a right wing plot to overthrow the government by taking over military bases, creating social chaos and disrupting electricity supplies.
Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota announced on Thursday plans to "hunt down white right wing soldiers and police" following Wednesday's Soweto bomb blasts, in which one person died. A 10th explosion near Pretoria wounded two others.
He said a few right wing, white Afrikaners in the armed forces and police could be part of a plot to plunge South Africa into a race war.
"They are a racially oriented group. They want to achieve a race war," Lekota said. "It certainly does not represent the majority of Afrikaners - but a residue within the South African National Defence Force and the South African Police Service."
But as police continue their quest to unmask the bombers, questions are being asked about the motive behind the blasts and their possible place in a bigger plot.
In the past seven months, 17 people - including military officers, engineers and farmers - have been arrested in connection with an alleged coup. Most of them are named in Document 12, a plan detailing how the country is to be taken over.
There are several coincidences between Document 12 and Wednesday's blasts.
Document 12, which has been presented as evidence in court, says: "The action will look as if the Jews or Muslims were responsible. In the chaos it creates, we can move more freely."
Phase three is called "The night of D-Day" and describes how chaos will be created by deliberate electricity failures.
Military and police bases - including Lenz military base and 21 Battalion - and major petrol stations would be taken over. Several hospitals, shopping centres and railway lines are identified as targets.
Document 12, says phase four includes the taking of "secondary targets" and is the stage in which black people will be chased out of the country: "During this phase, which must not last longer than eight weeks, the enemy must be bombed."
Blacks and Indians who refuse to move will be "attacked and forced to leave", it says.
Police Director Phuti Setati said police were "following up on certain leads", but he would not disclose more.
Setati said a team of investigators drawn from specialist units - including bomb disposal experts, crime intelligence, serious and violent crimes detectives, and forensics units - were toiling around the clock.
"We are busy drawing up a profile of a person we believe can assist us in our investigations," Setati said. The profile was due to be complete by Friday.
He urged the public to come forward with information to help the investigations.
"The people who did this have not gone away. They are here, with us, in our midst. They are not in a hole. They are not in outer space. They are living with people, talking to people, so we need to all do our best to expose them.
"It's time for us to look carefully around us and join hands. Together we will succeed in catching them," Setati said.
National police commissioner Jackie Selebi said the police had been told of two white males "acting suspiciously" in the area where a bomb was defused.
Dr Mark Welman, forensic psychologist and director of the MTN Centre for Crime Prevention at Rhodes University, has conducted considerable research into global terrorism.
He said the bombers had taken care to avoid casualties and were intent on making a statement.
"It's difficult to work out what that statement is if you don't know who is responsible. There has been speculation that there is a right-wing element involved, and it makes sense because it would fit in with their agenda," Welman said, adding that, by targeting railway lines in Soweto, the bombers had focused on black commuters, had caused unease and fear, and had irritated the government.
"If there are a series of bombings in South Africa, the logical assumption would be that the right wing is to blame, as they are the only ones that have threatened violence and been stockpiling weapons, holding training camps and making demands on the government which they feel have not been met," Welman said.
Commenting on the attacks on a mosque and a temple, Welman said jailed right wing leader Eugene Terre'Blanche had often referred to "heathen masses" as part of his rhetoric in the 1980s, and so the attacks could have been a symbolic blow.
"Most rightwingers are fanatical in claiming the cause of Christ as their own. And it's common in terrorism for people to subvert religion to support their ideology," Welman explained.
He said the timing of this week's blasts tied in with the Christmas season, and could be the start of a year-end terror campaign or "a dry run" to ensure the effectiveness of plans before "the real thing".
"To view the attacks as an isolated incident would be naive and dangerous. The police need to work hard at solving the case, and the public also need to increase their awareness, and companies should boost their security at corporate sites," Welman warned.