DeKalb isn’t the only place on the globe that’s getting hot.

South Africa, in its newborn quest to end the reign of Apartheid, is heating up pretty well, too. And if South Africans are serious about their fight to make things better, they must be ready to deal with perhaps even more turbulence than they are used to.

The latest development in this already upside-down country has a group of right-wing extremist neo-Nazis claiming responsibility for a major weapons theft from a military arsenal. This group and other nationalist and white supremecist groups have launched a “counter-revolution” against the country’s new anti-apartheid policies and their formulator South African President F.W. de Klerk.

And the groups are all quite serious about picking this fight. De Klerk has said recently that he has received several death threats from these extremists.

Hopefully, de Klerk and South Africans will try to endure the heat. As far as violence goes, things seem to have gone from bad to worse since the new policies have gone into action, but as most Americans know, democracy and equality rarely stand tall without having to withstand a fight first.

De Klerk and his torn country are trying to do the right thing. For this they deserve, if nothing else, our constant encouragement.

What was already hot just got hotter.