Terre'Blanche an imposing persona
2010-04-04 01:16
Eugene Terre'Blanche murdered
Terre'Blanche makes a comeback
Terre'blanche taken to SAHRC
Johannesburg - The leader of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging Eugene Terre'Blanche was murdered at his farm 10km outside of Ventersdorp on Saturday, North West police said.Eugene Ney Terre'Blanche was born in Ventersdorp to staunchly Afrikaner nationalist parents on January 31 1944.Terre'Blanche was charismatic, a master of rhetoric and superb showman, he built the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging into a force that clashed head on with the government.But his image and the movement were dented by claims that he had a steamy extra-marital affair with newspaper columnist Jani Allan after she declared herself "impaled on the blue flame of his blowtorch eyes".Terre'Blanche captained the first rugby team of the Potchefstroom Hoër Volkskool and after matriculating served for nearly five years as a policeman, some of that time in the Special Guard Unit responsible for protecting government figures including the prime minister.Political careerLeaving the police force to be a farmer, he stood for Parliament for the Herstigte Nasionale Party but was unsuccessful.His political career really began in 1973 when he and six other "Afrikaans patriots" founded the AWB in a garage in Heidelberg.Terre'Blanche's reason for starting the movement was reportedly because he believed then-prime minister John Vorster was making dangerous concessions to blacks that would eventually endanger the survival of the white race.The AWB functioned as a semi-secret organisation for five years.Its first public action, undertaken in 1979, was to tar and feather prominent Afrikaner theologian Floors van Jaarsveld for calling for the desanctification of the Day of the Covenant.Nazi-like insigniaIn the same year the AWB held its first public meeting, displaying its Nazi-like insignia and declaring its vehement opposition to Parliamentary democracy.Terre'Blanche defended the movement's triple-seven emblem against claims that it resembled a swastika, saying it was composed of a key number in the Bible. "The number 777 stands in direct opposition to the number 666 - the number of the antichrist."In 1980 he registered a political party under the name of the Blanke Volkstaat Party, but never activated it, preferring to use the AWB as the cutting edge of Andries Treurnicht's Conservative Party and apparently building up an AWB caucus in the CP.In 1983 Terre'Blanche was one of four AWB members charged under the Terrorism Act after weapons were found buried on the farm of his brother Andries.Terre'Blanche was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for five years, for illegal possession of arms.In the same year two former members of the AWB were jailed for 15 years for conspiring to overthrow the government and assassinate black leaders. The men had resigned from the movement shortly before the start of the trial.One of them was Jacob Viljoen, a co-accused with Terre'Blanche in an earlier trial for possession of arms which the AWB leader maintained had been planted in his car boot by leftists.Imposing public personaTerre'Blanche, who was involved in amateur dramatics in his youth and has written several plays, had by then developed an imposing public persona. He would often arrive at a meeting on horseback. Clad in khaki, flanked on stage by bodyguards from the Aquila special unit dressed in khaki or black, with masks, he could mesmerise audiences with his powerful voice that surged and fell in Afrikaans only."If Mr Terre'Blanche paused to think what he was saying, chances are he would lose the rhythm," wrote a journalist.In February 1986 he announced the formation of the AWB Brandwag, a commando to protect white interests in case not enough police were available.Later the same year his brown-shirted supporters disrupted several public meetings attended by Cabinet ministers.In 1988 he delivered an AWB petition to then-president PW Botha calling for the restoration as Boer ground of the old Boer Republics of Transvaal, Orange Free State and northern Natal.Blacks would be present in this white volkstaat only as guest labourers, while non-Afrikaner whites would qualify for the vote if they became nationalised citizens and if they were Christians.He said the AWB would take over with might in SA if the government capitulated to the ANC.‘An unarmed white man is a dead white man’After AWB "storm troopers" brandished guns, rubber batons and knives at a rally, the government announced that it was "looking into" the actions and attitudes of the movement.In February 1989 the government prohibited members of the movement from wearing firearms at its meetings, prompting Terre'Blanche to complain that an unarmed white man in Africa was a dead white man.Terre'Blanche repeated his threats of violent resistance to an ANC takeover in the years that followed.He said he would contest the Rustenburg Parliamentary seat in the general election of September 1989 as an "independent white man" but withdrew when a right-wing election front against the NP failed to materialise.In December he was charged with malicious damage to property after allegedly damaging the gates of Paardekraal monument, where police found him after dark in the company of Jani Allan, a columnist for the Sunday Times.He was acquitted, and received "unanimous" support at an extraordinary AWB Hoofraad meeting called to thrash out differences of opinion over his leadership.But a number of AWB dissidents did not attend or were not allowed into the meeting. By May a number of senior AWB figures, including several founder members, had left the organisation.‘A leader, not a lover’In July Allan released tapes of calls he made to her in which he referred to her as "darlinkie" and begged her to call him.But Terre'Blanche continued to deny an affair. "I'm a leader, not a lover," he said.He persisted in the denial in the face of explicit evidence to the contrary when in 1992 Allan lost a defamation claim against Channel 4 Television over a documentary which claimed there had been an affair.In April 1991, when threats had been made of white right-wing violence against anti-apartheid marches, he and other AWB members were arrested, warned and released after allegedly obstructing police at an ANC march in Pretoria.Terre'Blanche was present at Ventersdorp on August 9 that year when AWB supporters clashed with police guarding a National Party meeting addressed by then-president FW De Klerk. Three AWB members died in the affray, two of them from bullet wounds, one hit by a vehicle, and 58 people were injured.RevolutionTerre'Blanche said afterwards that the AWB was preparing itself for the "oncoming revolution" because the government could not handle the security situation.Five months later he and nine other AWB members were arrested on charges of public violence stemming from the Ventersdorp affair. In December 1991, after a meeting with the then-constitutional development minister Gerrit Viljoen, he said the AWB refused to participate in Codesa because its demand for a Volkstaat had not been acknowledged. He also repeated threats of war against an ANC governmentIn a lunch time address to the Pretoria Press Club on February 25 1992 he said participation in the referendum on reform which had just been called by De Klerk would be a betrayal of the fatherland.Later that day, after Treurnicht announced that the CP would participate in the poll, Terre'Blanche said the AWB would take part and work for a no vote.In March that year AWB secretary general Piet Rudolph left the movement saying the time had come for Terre'Blanche to go, and claiming there were many others in the AWB who were dissatisfied with his leadership.In 1998, Terre'Blanche accepted "political and moral responsibility" before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for a bombing campaign to disrupt the 1994 elections in which 21 people were killed and hundreds injured. He was later jailed for assaulting a security guard and released in 2004.Terre'Blanche is married to Martie, with whom he has a daughter.
- SAPA
Read more on: awb jani allan eugene terre'blanche
2010-04-04 01:16
Eugene Terre'Blanche murdered
Terre'Blanche makes a comeback
Terre'blanche taken to SAHRC
Johannesburg - The leader of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging Eugene Terre'Blanche was murdered at his farm 10km outside of Ventersdorp on Saturday, North West police said.Eugene Ney Terre'Blanche was born in Ventersdorp to staunchly Afrikaner nationalist parents on January 31 1944.Terre'Blanche was charismatic, a master of rhetoric and superb showman, he built the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging into a force that clashed head on with the government.But his image and the movement were dented by claims that he had a steamy extra-marital affair with newspaper columnist Jani Allan after she declared herself "impaled on the blue flame of his blowtorch eyes".Terre'Blanche captained the first rugby team of the Potchefstroom Hoër Volkskool and after matriculating served for nearly five years as a policeman, some of that time in the Special Guard Unit responsible for protecting government figures including the prime minister.Political careerLeaving the police force to be a farmer, he stood for Parliament for the Herstigte Nasionale Party but was unsuccessful.His political career really began in 1973 when he and six other "Afrikaans patriots" founded the AWB in a garage in Heidelberg.Terre'Blanche's reason for starting the movement was reportedly because he believed then-prime minister John Vorster was making dangerous concessions to blacks that would eventually endanger the survival of the white race.The AWB functioned as a semi-secret organisation for five years.Its first public action, undertaken in 1979, was to tar and feather prominent Afrikaner theologian Floors van Jaarsveld for calling for the desanctification of the Day of the Covenant.Nazi-like insigniaIn the same year the AWB held its first public meeting, displaying its Nazi-like insignia and declaring its vehement opposition to Parliamentary democracy.Terre'Blanche defended the movement's triple-seven emblem against claims that it resembled a swastika, saying it was composed of a key number in the Bible. "The number 777 stands in direct opposition to the number 666 - the number of the antichrist."In 1980 he registered a political party under the name of the Blanke Volkstaat Party, but never activated it, preferring to use the AWB as the cutting edge of Andries Treurnicht's Conservative Party and apparently building up an AWB caucus in the CP.In 1983 Terre'Blanche was one of four AWB members charged under the Terrorism Act after weapons were found buried on the farm of his brother Andries.Terre'Blanche was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for five years, for illegal possession of arms.In the same year two former members of the AWB were jailed for 15 years for conspiring to overthrow the government and assassinate black leaders. The men had resigned from the movement shortly before the start of the trial.One of them was Jacob Viljoen, a co-accused with Terre'Blanche in an earlier trial for possession of arms which the AWB leader maintained had been planted in his car boot by leftists.Imposing public personaTerre'Blanche, who was involved in amateur dramatics in his youth and has written several plays, had by then developed an imposing public persona. He would often arrive at a meeting on horseback. Clad in khaki, flanked on stage by bodyguards from the Aquila special unit dressed in khaki or black, with masks, he could mesmerise audiences with his powerful voice that surged and fell in Afrikaans only."If Mr Terre'Blanche paused to think what he was saying, chances are he would lose the rhythm," wrote a journalist.In February 1986 he announced the formation of the AWB Brandwag, a commando to protect white interests in case not enough police were available.Later the same year his brown-shirted supporters disrupted several public meetings attended by Cabinet ministers.In 1988 he delivered an AWB petition to then-president PW Botha calling for the restoration as Boer ground of the old Boer Republics of Transvaal, Orange Free State and northern Natal.Blacks would be present in this white volkstaat only as guest labourers, while non-Afrikaner whites would qualify for the vote if they became nationalised citizens and if they were Christians.He said the AWB would take over with might in SA if the government capitulated to the ANC.‘An unarmed white man is a dead white man’After AWB "storm troopers" brandished guns, rubber batons and knives at a rally, the government announced that it was "looking into" the actions and attitudes of the movement.In February 1989 the government prohibited members of the movement from wearing firearms at its meetings, prompting Terre'Blanche to complain that an unarmed white man in Africa was a dead white man.Terre'Blanche repeated his threats of violent resistance to an ANC takeover in the years that followed.He said he would contest the Rustenburg Parliamentary seat in the general election of September 1989 as an "independent white man" but withdrew when a right-wing election front against the NP failed to materialise.In December he was charged with malicious damage to property after allegedly damaging the gates of Paardekraal monument, where police found him after dark in the company of Jani Allan, a columnist for the Sunday Times.He was acquitted, and received "unanimous" support at an extraordinary AWB Hoofraad meeting called to thrash out differences of opinion over his leadership.But a number of AWB dissidents did not attend or were not allowed into the meeting. By May a number of senior AWB figures, including several founder members, had left the organisation.‘A leader, not a lover’In July Allan released tapes of calls he made to her in which he referred to her as "darlinkie" and begged her to call him.But Terre'Blanche continued to deny an affair. "I'm a leader, not a lover," he said.He persisted in the denial in the face of explicit evidence to the contrary when in 1992 Allan lost a defamation claim against Channel 4 Television over a documentary which claimed there had been an affair.In April 1991, when threats had been made of white right-wing violence against anti-apartheid marches, he and other AWB members were arrested, warned and released after allegedly obstructing police at an ANC march in Pretoria.Terre'Blanche was present at Ventersdorp on August 9 that year when AWB supporters clashed with police guarding a National Party meeting addressed by then-president FW De Klerk. Three AWB members died in the affray, two of them from bullet wounds, one hit by a vehicle, and 58 people were injured.RevolutionTerre'Blanche said afterwards that the AWB was preparing itself for the "oncoming revolution" because the government could not handle the security situation.Five months later he and nine other AWB members were arrested on charges of public violence stemming from the Ventersdorp affair. In December 1991, after a meeting with the then-constitutional development minister Gerrit Viljoen, he said the AWB refused to participate in Codesa because its demand for a Volkstaat had not been acknowledged. He also repeated threats of war against an ANC governmentIn a lunch time address to the Pretoria Press Club on February 25 1992 he said participation in the referendum on reform which had just been called by De Klerk would be a betrayal of the fatherland.Later that day, after Treurnicht announced that the CP would participate in the poll, Terre'Blanche said the AWB would take part and work for a no vote.In March that year AWB secretary general Piet Rudolph left the movement saying the time had come for Terre'Blanche to go, and claiming there were many others in the AWB who were dissatisfied with his leadership.In 1998, Terre'Blanche accepted "political and moral responsibility" before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for a bombing campaign to disrupt the 1994 elections in which 21 people were killed and hundreds injured. He was later jailed for assaulting a security guard and released in 2004.Terre'Blanche is married to Martie, with whom he has a daughter.
- SAPA
Read more on: awb jani allan eugene terre'blanche
Calm urged after Terre'Blanche murder2010-04-04 01:16
function openPrintWindow() {
myPrintWindow = window.open('http://www.news24.com/printArticle.aspx?iframe&aid=d5c1c793-089d-4fe6-b6e3-3f6e9de68d21&cid=1059','myPrintWindow','toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=1,resizable=0,width=750,height=600');
}
Print article
Email article
Eugene Terre'Blanche sits at a rally held in Pretoria in December 2005. (Jerome Delay,file, AP)
Galleries · User Galleries · News in Pictures Send us your pictures · Send us your stories
Related Links
Terre'blanche taken to SAHRC
AWB re-grouping condemned
Eugene Terre'Blanche murdered
Lauren Hess
Cape Town - The AWB is "trying its best to keep people calm" after the murder of the far-right wing group's leader, Eugene Terre'Blanche on Saturday. Terre'Blanche was beaten to death on his farm Villanna in Ventersdorp in the North West early on Saturday evening. A panga and knobkerrie were found next to him. Two of his farmworkers, a 16-year-old and 21-year-old, were arrested for the murder. The two allegedly got into an argument with Terre'Blanche over wages, said police spokesperson Adéle Myburgh. The group's André Visagie said the AWB's immediate plans are to make funeral arrangements. Thereafter it will have a meeting about "how to avenge" Terre'Blanche's killing. Reckless statementsMeanwhile, AfriForum and Solidarity have called for calm in the wake of the AWB leader's murder. AfriForum's Willie Spies said it was essential that all South African - white and black - refrain from reckless statements and, what he called, the "romanticising" of violence. He said the killing of the AWB leader was proof of how volatile the situation in the country was at present. Spies urged South Africans to remain calm in circumstances which could have potentially destructive repercussions. AfriForum has won a court order barring ANCYL leader Julius Malema from singing the controversial "shoot the boer" song. In the previous week, the South Gauteng High Court also banned the song. The ANC plans to go to the Constitutional Court over the ruling. No-one is safeSolidarity said on Saturday night that Terre'Blanche's murder was proof that no-one in South Africa was safe. Flip Buys, Solidarity CEO, said it and AfriForum plan to hold talks on Tuesday with Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa about a comprehensive community safety programme. Buys also said Solidarity wants the ANC to end attempts to overturn court rulings over Malema's "Shoot the Boer" song. Buys said it was time President Jacob Zuma put an end to the controversy surrounding the issue as it was leading to extreme polarisation which the country could ill afford.Meanwhile, Zuma's spokesperson Vusi Mona said the president was filled with shock and horror at the killing. DA leader Helen Zille described the AWB leader's murder as an absolute tragedy and said violence was not a solution.
- News24
function openPrintWindow() {
myPrintWindow = window.open('http://www.news24.com/printArticle.aspx?iframe&aid=d5c1c793-089d-4fe6-b6e3-3f6e9de68d21&cid=1059','myPrintWindow','toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=1,resizable=0,width=750,height=600');
}
Print article
Email article
Eugene Terre'Blanche sits at a rally held in Pretoria in December 2005. (Jerome Delay,file, AP)
Galleries · User Galleries · News in Pictures Send us your pictures · Send us your stories
Related Links
Terre'blanche taken to SAHRC
AWB re-grouping condemned
Eugene Terre'Blanche murdered
Lauren Hess
Cape Town - The AWB is "trying its best to keep people calm" after the murder of the far-right wing group's leader, Eugene Terre'Blanche on Saturday. Terre'Blanche was beaten to death on his farm Villanna in Ventersdorp in the North West early on Saturday evening. A panga and knobkerrie were found next to him. Two of his farmworkers, a 16-year-old and 21-year-old, were arrested for the murder. The two allegedly got into an argument with Terre'Blanche over wages, said police spokesperson Adéle Myburgh. The group's André Visagie said the AWB's immediate plans are to make funeral arrangements. Thereafter it will have a meeting about "how to avenge" Terre'Blanche's killing. Reckless statementsMeanwhile, AfriForum and Solidarity have called for calm in the wake of the AWB leader's murder. AfriForum's Willie Spies said it was essential that all South African - white and black - refrain from reckless statements and, what he called, the "romanticising" of violence. He said the killing of the AWB leader was proof of how volatile the situation in the country was at present. Spies urged South Africans to remain calm in circumstances which could have potentially destructive repercussions. AfriForum has won a court order barring ANCYL leader Julius Malema from singing the controversial "shoot the boer" song. In the previous week, the South Gauteng High Court also banned the song. The ANC plans to go to the Constitutional Court over the ruling. No-one is safeSolidarity said on Saturday night that Terre'Blanche's murder was proof that no-one in South Africa was safe. Flip Buys, Solidarity CEO, said it and AfriForum plan to hold talks on Tuesday with Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa about a comprehensive community safety programme. Buys also said Solidarity wants the ANC to end attempts to overturn court rulings over Malema's "Shoot the Boer" song. Buys said it was time President Jacob Zuma put an end to the controversy surrounding the issue as it was leading to extreme polarisation which the country could ill afford.Meanwhile, Zuma's spokesperson Vusi Mona said the president was filled with shock and horror at the killing. DA leader Helen Zille described the AWB leader's murder as an absolute tragedy and said violence was not a solution.
- News24
White supremacist leader killed in South Africa
By MICHELLE FAUL
FILE- In this Friday Dec. 16, 2005 file photo, South African white supremaci...
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche was bludgeoned to death by two of his farm workers Saturday in an apparent dispute over wages, police said, amid growing racial tensions in the once white-led country.
Terreblanche, 69, was leader of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging movement, better known as the AWB, that wanted to create three all-white republics within South Africa in which blacks would be allowed only as guest workers.
The opposition Democratic Alliance party blamed increasing racial tensions for the killing.
"This happened in a province where racial tension in the rural farming community is increasingly being fueled by irresponsible racist utterances" by two members of the governing African National Congress, said the Democratic Alliance legislator for that constituency, Juanita Terblanche.
Terblanche, no relative of the far-right leader, said her party did not share his political convictions but warned that the attack on him could be seen as an attack on the diverse components of South Africa's democracy.
President Jacob Zuma appealed for calm following "this terrible deed." In a statement, he asked "South Africans not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fueling racial hatred."
The killing comes 10 weeks before South Africa prepares to host the first World Cup soccer tournament on African soil, with massive expenditures on infrastructure being questioned as hundreds of thousands of tickets and hotel rooms remain unsold.
The South African Press Association quoted police spokeswoman Adele Myburgh as saying that Terreblanche was attacked by a 21-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy who worked for him on his farm outside Ventersdorp, about 110 kilometers (68 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
Myburgh said the alleged attackers have been arrested and charged with murder. She said the two, whom she did not identify by name, told the police that there had been a dispute because they were not paid for work they had done on the farm.
"Mr. Terreblanche's body was found on the bed with facial and head injuries." She said a machete was found on his body and a knobkerrie — a wooden staff with a rounded head — next to his bed.
Terreblanche had threatened war on South Africa's white minority government in the 1980s when it began to make what he considered dangerous concessions to blacks that endangered the survival of South Africa's white race.
A symbol of white resistance to democratic black majority rule, he had lived in relative obscurity in recent years but had not changed his views.
He revived the AWB in 2008 and had rallies that drew growing crowds whom he wooed with his declaration that white South Africans are entitled to create their own country, a fight he declared he would take to the International Court at The Hague.
From the other side of the color spectrum, a firebrand African National Congress leader also has been raising tensions, insisting on singing an apartheid-era song urging supporters to "kill the Boer." Boer is Afrikaans for a farmer, but also is a derogatory term for any white in South Africa. Last week, the high court ruled the song hate speech and banned the ANC's Julius Malema from singing it. The ANC is appealing.
Terreblanche's killing comes amid growing disenchantment among blacks for whom the right to vote has not translated into jobs and better housing and education.
Some consider themselves betrayed by leaders governing the richest country on the continent and pursuing a policy of black empowerment that has made millionaires of a tiny black elite while millions remain trapped in poverty, even as whites continue to enjoy a privileged lifestyle.
Terreblanche recently has made statements highlighting the corruption that has ballooned under the black government.
"Our country is being run by criminals who murder and rob ... We are being oppressed again. We will rise again," he said, referring to concentration-camp conditions that killed thousands during the Boer War fought by British colonizers.
Terreblanche launched his political career in 1973 amid growing opposition to the white minority government and its racist policies, forming the AWB with six other "patriots" of the Afrikaans-speaking whites descended from Dutch immigrants.
The AWB was a semisecret organization for years. When it "came out" in 1979, the movement displayed its Nazi-like insignia and declared opposition to any parliamentary democracy.
Terreblanche would arrive at meetings on horseback flanked by masked bodyguards dressed in khaki or black and became a charismatic leader for a small minority that could not envision a South Africa under the democratic rule of a black majority.
At one rally his guards who terrorized blacks and were dubbed "storm troopers" after the Nazis, brandished guns, police batons and knives, prompting the government to announce it was "looking into" the actions and attitudes of the movement.
In 1983, Terreblanche was sentenced to a two-year suspended jail sentence for illegal arms possession, though he said the arms were planted by black opponents. The same year, two AWB militants were jailed for 15 years for conspiring to overthrow the government and assassinate black leaders.
Terreblanche finally was jailed in 1997, sentenced to six years for the attempted murder of a black security guard and assaulting a black gas station worker.
He became a born-again Christian in prison, and declared on his release in 2004 that his experience had convinced him that "the real hour to revive the resistance had arrived."
Terreblanche had threatened to take the country by force if the white government capitulated to the ANC. After the white government conceded, the ANC overwhelmingly won 1994 elections and has won every election since with more than 60 percent of votes.
Comments:
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche was bludgeoned to death by two of his farm workers Saturday in an apparent dispute over wages, police said, amid growing racial tensions in the once white-led country.
Terreblanche, 69, was leader of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging movement, better known as the AWB, that wanted to create three all-white republics within South Africa in which blacks would be allowed only as guest workers.
The opposition Democratic Alliance party blamed increasing racial tensions for the killing.
"This happened in a province where racial tension in the rural farming community is increasingly being fueled by irresponsible racist utterances" by two members of the governing African National Congress, said the Democratic Alliance legislator for that constituency, Juanita Terblanche.
Terblanche, no relative of the far-right leader, said her party did not share his political convictions but warned that the attack on him could be seen as an attack on the diverse components of South Africa's democracy.
President Jacob Zuma appealed for calm following "this terrible deed." In a statement, he asked "South Africans not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fueling racial hatred."
The killing comes 10 weeks before South Africa prepares to host the first World Cup soccer tournament on African soil, with massive expenditures on infrastructure being questioned as hundreds of thousands of tickets and hotel rooms remain unsold.
The South African Press Association quoted police spokeswoman Adele Myburgh as saying that Terreblanche was attacked by a 21-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy who worked for him on his farm outside Ventersdorp, about 110 kilometers (68 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
Myburgh said the alleged attackers have been arrested and charged with murder. She said the two, whom she did not identify by name, told the police that there had been a dispute because they were not paid for work they had done on the farm.
"Mr. Terreblanche's body was found on the bed with facial and head injuries." She said a machete was found on his body and a knobkerrie — a wooden staff with a rounded head — next to his bed.
Terreblanche had threatened war on South Africa's white minority government in the 1980s when it began to make what he considered dangerous concessions to blacks that endangered the survival of South Africa's white race.
A symbol of white resistance to democratic black majority rule, he had lived in relative obscurity in recent years but had not changed his views.
He revived the AWB in 2008 and had rallies that drew growing crowds whom he wooed with his declaration that white South Africans are entitled to create their own country, a fight he declared he would take to the International Court at The Hague.
From the other side of the color spectrum, a firebrand African National Congress leader also has been raising tensions, insisting on singing an apartheid-era song urging supporters to "kill the Boer." Boer is Afrikaans for a farmer, but also is a derogatory term for any white in South Africa. Last week, the high court ruled the song hate speech and banned the ANC's Julius Malema from singing it. The ANC is appealing.
Terreblanche's killing comes amid growing disenchantment among blacks for whom the right to vote has not translated into jobs and better housing and education.
Some consider themselves betrayed by leaders governing the richest country on the continent and pursuing a policy of black empowerment that has made millionaires of a tiny black elite while millions remain trapped in poverty, even as whites continue to enjoy a privileged lifestyle.
Terreblanche recently has made statements highlighting the corruption that has ballooned under the black government.
"Our country is being run by criminals who murder and rob ... We are being oppressed again. We will rise again," he said, referring to concentration-camp conditions that killed thousands during the Boer War fought by British colonizers.
Terreblanche launched his political career in 1973 amid growing opposition to the white minority government and its racist policies, forming the AWB with six other "patriots" of the Afrikaans-speaking whites descended from Dutch immigrants.
The AWB was a semisecret organization for years. When it "came out" in 1979, the movement displayed its Nazi-like insignia and declared opposition to any parliamentary democracy.
Terreblanche would arrive at meetings on horseback flanked by masked bodyguards dressed in khaki or black and became a charismatic leader for a small minority that could not envision a South Africa under the democratic rule of a black majority.
At one rally his guards who terrorized blacks and were dubbed "storm troopers" after the Nazis, brandished guns, police batons and knives, prompting the government to announce it was "looking into" the actions and attitudes of the movement.
In 1983, Terreblanche was sentenced to a two-year suspended jail sentence for illegal arms possession, though he said the arms were planted by black opponents. The same year, two AWB militants were jailed for 15 years for conspiring to overthrow the government and assassinate black leaders.
Terreblanche finally was jailed in 1997, sentenced to six years for the attempted murder of a black security guard and assaulting a black gas station worker.
He became a born-again Christian in prison, and declared on his release in 2004 that his experience had convinced him that "the real hour to revive the resistance had arrived."
Terreblanche had threatened to take the country by force if the white government capitulated to the ANC. After the white government conceded, the ANC overwhelmingly won 1994 elections and has won every election since with more than 60 percent of votes.
Comments:
Received by email 05/04/2010
South Africa's character to face its first independent testSun 4 Apr 2010, 19:56 (3) 15 Comment(s) Email article
During the years of negotiation between the ANC and National Party Government in the nineties, the political and social atmosphere is South Africa was very volatile. It was largely the culmination of a history marred by racial tension and conflict, where radical changes to social order could no longer be delayed or ignored if large-scale social devastation was to be avoided.
The reconstructive period that followed during those fragile years, however, was generally regarded as a marvellous success, leaving everybody to breathe a sigh of relief and looking forward to a hopeful future.
The local, international and personal pressures on the parties in involved was massive, and was masterfully handled amidst fragmented outbursts of violence, and a wide-spread fear of national insecurity.
The two main figures involved, in Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, exemplified exceptionally mature and inspirational leadership despite personal differences - often surfacing in the media, amplifying the tension - and severely deviating political views.
However, one principle they both had in common and which would ultimately determine the peaceful transition of power and evasion of anarchy was a fundamental one: the conviction that the solution of the problem does not lie in revolt or violence.
Subsequent to the transfer of government, the mood, especially among the indigenous population was palpably positive, and there was a huge air of expectation that prosperity and profits of a newly acquired treasure would soon be felt.
However, given the immensity of the task that faced the government in providing economic welfare and opportunities from limited resources to a widely uneducated public, and their considerable lack of parliamentary and formal political experience to do so, as well as the economic and professional withdrawal of apprehensive white conservatives' skills and contributions, the expectations were perhaps rather inevitably disappointed and the attitudes steadily soured.
An ambience of dissatisfaction systematically intensified as these factors would continue to combine and leave the population increasingly perturbed by the developments, or lack thereof, and brooding for a vent to let their frustrations be channelled, and preferably with a scapegoat to provide their expressions with a targeted direction.
Exchanges towards a more radical approach would see support for the University of Sussex educated Thabo Mbeki be dropped in favour of the more liberal and 'ground level' populist icon in Jacob Zuma as leader of the ANC and eventually the country, as well as the rise of the outspoken Julius Malema, leader of the ANC youth league and aggressive critic of white power and promoter of communistic ideologies.
Now in this current of unrest, Malema may have perhaps unfairly directed the blame towards Afrikaners in general and attempted to reignite the decidedly dangerous 'struggle' approach of promoting confrontation and unleashing fumes of discontentment towards racially identifiable entities - especially when he was blatantly attacked by the Pan African Congress Youth League for statements about the Sharpeville uprising - it is unfortunately the reality which could have been sprung upon by any individual with a personal incentive to realise such a radical philosophy.
The thing that is of most concern though following the death of Eugene Terre-blanche, is that the murder was perpetrated by a 15 year old boy and 21 year old 'man' (youth). The national political response naturally has been one for 'calm' and that there is no link between Malema's singing of the 'kill the boer', or indeed of any political motivation in the killing.
However, it would be blindly naïve to deny any connection after weeks and months of deliberation over a song entitled 'shoot the boer' sung by the most controversial left wing provocateur yet to address followers of the ANC youth - and indeed a mere three days after the Northern Gauteng High Court granted an interdict against the singing of the song, as well as week after the Southern Gauteng High Court adjudged it's singing as unconstitutional - perhaps the most prominent South African 'Boer' was murdered with the suspects voluntarily handing themselves over to authorities.
These two suspects were, respectively, one, not born yet, and the second, 5 years old when apartheid government relinquished power to the ANC. What personal credentials to they have for struggling against apartheid and consequent need to be involved in a movement against an 'enemy' that has been dismantled? A spokesperson for the ANC on BBC today justified the singing of the song as a practice of heritage wherein the calling to arms on a figurative enemy of the past is portrayed. If a youthful person finds inspiration and incitement in a song which calls this enemy 'Boers' - still a widely accepted term for South African farmers of Afrikaner heritage - does that not cause them to see this past enemy as a present enemy in the form of Afrikaner farmers, and thus a justifiable target to aim their attack to address their political and social disgruntlement? Evidently, it does - and that not only cause for concern, but rather violent alarm.
In this new time of social turbulence, we do not have highly concentrated international monitor of influence that took years to build up to what it was in 1994 - when the atmosphere also had a similar tempered mood as it does now - since it was purposefully redirected having thought our troubles were largely dealt with. We also do not have the exemplary leadership in the form of a Mandela and de Klerk, to guide us through these difficult times, both looked up towards and followed by their respective social parties. Most disturbing, however, we do not seem to have agreement between the opposing parties about fundamental issues, one of which whether the singing of the 'kill the boer' song is acceptable given the potential implications which it may have not only in political conviction but in physical action.
Now is the time when, should the eyes of the international community once again be directed upon us, the community which Mandela et al fought for - a peaceful South Africa where integration is promoted and racial division denounced - will be tested in character, as a child is tested for the first time when he leaves the house whether he causes a fight in the playground, or whether he swallows his dignity and breaks one up.
The choice is ours - will the right wing factions rise, will the ANC left wing factions desist their unnecessary provocations, will the ANC come to their senses and do all in their power to keep their members from instigating division and targeting a scapegoat.
Now is the time. I pray we can rise above the moment, and be the example on the playground - become the men of which we've received great example of how to be. Can we all agree that's best and let sanity prevail? Any word spoken in division is an attestation that we cannot. Lets beat the challenge. Right here. Right now.
Topics: mandela apartheid kill the boer malema eugene terreblance
South Africa's character to face its first independent testSun 4 Apr 2010, 19:56 (3) 15 Comment(s) Email article
During the years of negotiation between the ANC and National Party Government in the nineties, the political and social atmosphere is South Africa was very volatile. It was largely the culmination of a history marred by racial tension and conflict, where radical changes to social order could no longer be delayed or ignored if large-scale social devastation was to be avoided.
The reconstructive period that followed during those fragile years, however, was generally regarded as a marvellous success, leaving everybody to breathe a sigh of relief and looking forward to a hopeful future.
The local, international and personal pressures on the parties in involved was massive, and was masterfully handled amidst fragmented outbursts of violence, and a wide-spread fear of national insecurity.
The two main figures involved, in Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, exemplified exceptionally mature and inspirational leadership despite personal differences - often surfacing in the media, amplifying the tension - and severely deviating political views.
However, one principle they both had in common and which would ultimately determine the peaceful transition of power and evasion of anarchy was a fundamental one: the conviction that the solution of the problem does not lie in revolt or violence.
Subsequent to the transfer of government, the mood, especially among the indigenous population was palpably positive, and there was a huge air of expectation that prosperity and profits of a newly acquired treasure would soon be felt.
However, given the immensity of the task that faced the government in providing economic welfare and opportunities from limited resources to a widely uneducated public, and their considerable lack of parliamentary and formal political experience to do so, as well as the economic and professional withdrawal of apprehensive white conservatives' skills and contributions, the expectations were perhaps rather inevitably disappointed and the attitudes steadily soured.
An ambience of dissatisfaction systematically intensified as these factors would continue to combine and leave the population increasingly perturbed by the developments, or lack thereof, and brooding for a vent to let their frustrations be channelled, and preferably with a scapegoat to provide their expressions with a targeted direction.
Exchanges towards a more radical approach would see support for the University of Sussex educated Thabo Mbeki be dropped in favour of the more liberal and 'ground level' populist icon in Jacob Zuma as leader of the ANC and eventually the country, as well as the rise of the outspoken Julius Malema, leader of the ANC youth league and aggressive critic of white power and promoter of communistic ideologies.
Now in this current of unrest, Malema may have perhaps unfairly directed the blame towards Afrikaners in general and attempted to reignite the decidedly dangerous 'struggle' approach of promoting confrontation and unleashing fumes of discontentment towards racially identifiable entities - especially when he was blatantly attacked by the Pan African Congress Youth League for statements about the Sharpeville uprising - it is unfortunately the reality which could have been sprung upon by any individual with a personal incentive to realise such a radical philosophy.
The thing that is of most concern though following the death of Eugene Terre-blanche, is that the murder was perpetrated by a 15 year old boy and 21 year old 'man' (youth). The national political response naturally has been one for 'calm' and that there is no link between Malema's singing of the 'kill the boer', or indeed of any political motivation in the killing.
However, it would be blindly naïve to deny any connection after weeks and months of deliberation over a song entitled 'shoot the boer' sung by the most controversial left wing provocateur yet to address followers of the ANC youth - and indeed a mere three days after the Northern Gauteng High Court granted an interdict against the singing of the song, as well as week after the Southern Gauteng High Court adjudged it's singing as unconstitutional - perhaps the most prominent South African 'Boer' was murdered with the suspects voluntarily handing themselves over to authorities.
These two suspects were, respectively, one, not born yet, and the second, 5 years old when apartheid government relinquished power to the ANC. What personal credentials to they have for struggling against apartheid and consequent need to be involved in a movement against an 'enemy' that has been dismantled? A spokesperson for the ANC on BBC today justified the singing of the song as a practice of heritage wherein the calling to arms on a figurative enemy of the past is portrayed. If a youthful person finds inspiration and incitement in a song which calls this enemy 'Boers' - still a widely accepted term for South African farmers of Afrikaner heritage - does that not cause them to see this past enemy as a present enemy in the form of Afrikaner farmers, and thus a justifiable target to aim their attack to address their political and social disgruntlement? Evidently, it does - and that not only cause for concern, but rather violent alarm.
In this new time of social turbulence, we do not have highly concentrated international monitor of influence that took years to build up to what it was in 1994 - when the atmosphere also had a similar tempered mood as it does now - since it was purposefully redirected having thought our troubles were largely dealt with. We also do not have the exemplary leadership in the form of a Mandela and de Klerk, to guide us through these difficult times, both looked up towards and followed by their respective social parties. Most disturbing, however, we do not seem to have agreement between the opposing parties about fundamental issues, one of which whether the singing of the 'kill the boer' song is acceptable given the potential implications which it may have not only in political conviction but in physical action.
Now is the time when, should the eyes of the international community once again be directed upon us, the community which Mandela et al fought for - a peaceful South Africa where integration is promoted and racial division denounced - will be tested in character, as a child is tested for the first time when he leaves the house whether he causes a fight in the playground, or whether he swallows his dignity and breaks one up.
The choice is ours - will the right wing factions rise, will the ANC left wing factions desist their unnecessary provocations, will the ANC come to their senses and do all in their power to keep their members from instigating division and targeting a scapegoat.
Now is the time. I pray we can rise above the moment, and be the example on the playground - become the men of which we've received great example of how to be. Can we all agree that's best and let sanity prevail? Any word spoken in division is an attestation that we cannot. Lets beat the challenge. Right here. Right now.
Topics: mandela apartheid kill the boer malema eugene terreblance
No comments:
Post a Comment