The Boers Strike Back!
Frikkie Potgieter
The True story of Boer Resistance to the ANC Takeover in South Africa!
There are many critics who accuse the Afrikaner Resistance Movement - AWB in
Afrikaans - of "having done nothing" to try and physically prevent the
takeover of South Africa by the ANC - as had long been that organization's
war cry by it's leader, Eugene Terre'Blanche at AWB rallies.
This criticism is based on ignorance of the facts - the truth is that out of
all of the numerous right wing organizations which threatened violence and
uprising should the ANC take over, the only organized active physical
resistance came from the AWB - and this was acknowledged in a strange way by
the government of the time with the calling out of a state of emergency in
the Western Transvaal in April 1994.
This campaign of violence resulted in the deaths of 21 people and damage to
the tune of R70 million - a not insubstantial effort by anyone's reckoning.
After a series of smaller bomb blasts in Western Transvaal towns such as
Bloemhof and Sannieshof, the first indication of real trouble came with the
destruction of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) broadcast
tower serving the Western Transvaal during the week running up to the April
1994 "one man one vote" elections.
On Friday night, 22 April 1994, a bomb destroyed the Department of Home
Affairs offices in Potgietersrus in the Northern Transvaal, and an important
petrol pipeline running from the Sasol complex in the northern Orange Free
State was severely damaged by another powerful bomb the same night. The
pipeline blast caused a spectacular fire.
It was however a bombing campaign which occurred in the days immediately
leading up to the election which caused international headlines and for a
while did caused many observers to seriously question whether the elections
would go ahead or not.
During this bombing campaign, the largest bombs ever to be detonated in
South Africa's history were to go off - bombs four times as big as the
biggest bomb that the ANC had ever been able to detonate during its 29 year
long guerrilla campaign.
In the resulting court case in which a total of 27 AWB members - all members
of the AWB's black shirted elite unit, the "Iron Guard" (or Ystergarde" in
Afrikaans) - the state put together in its charge sheet one of the most
interesting cases the South African courts had ever seen.
The charge sheet, which was finally formulated in December 1994, contained
many startling allegations, which included the following - (the parts in
quotation marks are taken directly from the charge sheet):
"1. On or about 21 April 1994 accused Clint Entlish, Josias Cruywagen, and
Jan Kruger illegally broke into the club house of the Para-Shop parachute
club at the PC Pelser Airport at Krugersdorp and therefrom stole the
following items: 9 parachutes, one book entitled Sky Diving in 78 days; one
Altimaster meter, four Auto Page Student Helmet Mount Radios; 5 Motorola
carriers for the Helmet Mount radios; 2 holders for Motorola Two Way
transmitters, and 1 King Kx99 ground to air tranciever. These items were
found on 27 April 1994 during the arrest action carried out at the Waterval
shooting range in the district of Rustenburg and were found on or in the
vicinity of mentioned shooting range.
2. On 21 April 1994 accused Nicolaas Barnard, Abraham Myburgh and Jan Kruger
carried out a reconnaissance on a game farm named `Springfontein' in the
Koster region (hereafter called the game farm) in order to establish if it
was suitable as a basis for the preparation and execution of the
aforementioned conspiracy.
3. On 23 April 1994 a group of persons gathered together at the game farm
for the purpose of furthering and executing aforementioned conspiracy.
4. On or about 23 April 1994 and on the game farm, under the leadership of
Jan Kruger, assisted by one Johan Du Plessis (hereafter called Du Plessis)
started planning on how to steal motor vehicles for use in attacks on
(Black) taxis and taxi ranks, terror attacks and motor car bombs.
5. On 23 April 1994 accused Etienne le Roux, Nicolaas Barnard, and Abraham
Myburgh, along with a co-conspirator named Jacob Koekemoer (hereafter called
Koekemoer) went to the farm Koesterfontein in the Magaliesburg region
(hereafter called Koesterfontein) in the Koester district. Here accused
Nicolaas Barnard told Koekemoer, who as a miner was familiar with the
workings of explosives, to build a bomb for use in an act of terror in the
center of Johannesburg. Koekemoer then with the help of accused Etienne le
Roux, Nicolaas Barnard, and Abraham Myburgh, proceeded to build the bomb in
an Audi motor car with registration number HRZ 071T. This vehicle was lent
to accused Nicolaas Barnard by the owner thereof, with the purpose of using
it in such terror attack.
Etienne le Roux, Nicolaas Barnard, and Abraham Myburgh proceeded with the
aforementioned Audi, in which the bomb was concealed, as well as a second
motor vehicle to the center of Johannesburg where they detonated the bomb at
09h50 in Bree Street. (Ten people were killed in the blast, and dozens more
were injured. Damage to surrounding buildings was so extensive that an
entire block had to be demolished and water and telephone supplies were cut
to the entire city center).
7. On the same day Koekemoer proceeded to manufacture 20 pipe bombs at
Koesterfontein. These bombs were taken on 24 April to the Game farm by
accused Etienne le Roux, Nicolaas Barnard and Abraham Myburgh.
8. During the evening of 24 April 1994 accused (AWB secretary general) Nico
Prinsloo, (Ystergarde chief) Leon van der Merwe, Johannes Smit, Abraham
Fourie and Du Plessis, gathered behind closed doors on the game farm. After
this meeting Du Plessis and accused Abraham Fourie gathered together all the
persons on the game farm together (sentries included). Thereafter accused
Abraham Myburgh explained the workings of the pipe bombs to the gathered
persons. Du Plessis then asked for volunteers, who had motor vehicles
available, to carry out attacks with aforementioned pipe bombs. He also
asked for crew to accompany these drivers during the execution of these
attacks. The target areas for the attacks and the groups were identified as
follows:
(a) Westonaria: Accused Jan Kruger, Martin Wiebosch (hereafter called
Wiebosch) and Tiaan Potgieter (hereafter called Potgieter) in Wiebosch's
vehicle;
(b) Randfontein : Accused Clint Entlish, Josias Cruywagen, Johannes Venter
in Clint Entlish's vehicle;
(c) Pretoria: Accused Jacobus Nel, Petrus Steyn, and Gerhardus Fourie in
accused Jacobus Nel's vehicle;
(d) Krugersdorp: Jan Pieter Hanekom (hereafter called Hanekom); with persons
unknown in aforementioned Hanekom's vehicle. This group however lost its
nerve and hid the bomb at a place unknown to the state and returned to the
game farm without having accomplished their mission.
9. On 25 April 1994 accused Jan Kruger, together with Wiebosch and Potgieter
detonated a pipe bomb at a taxi rank on the Westonaria -Carletonville road
near to Westonaria. No persons were hurt during the explosion but damage was
inflicted to vehicles. On their return to the game farm these persons gave a
report back to accused AWB secretary general Nico Prinsloo and Ystergarde
chief Leon van der Merwe, after these two asked about the course of the
operation.
10. On 25 April 1994 accused Clint Entlish, Etienne le Roux and Johannes
Venter detonated a pipe bomb at a taxi rank on the corner of Third and Park
Streets, Randfontein. No persons were hurt during this explosion and
vehicles were damaged.
11. On 25 April 1994 accused Jacobus Nel, Petrus Steyn and Gerhardus Fourie
detonated a pipe bomb in a restaurant at 20h30 on the corner of Bloed Street
and 7th Avenue in Marabastad, Pretoria. (Three people were killed in this
attack on a Black owned and frequented eating house near the Pretoria city
center).
12. On 24 April 1994 Koekemoer, with the help of accused Etienne le Roux,
Nicolaas Barnard, Abraham Myburgh and Jan de Wet, as well as accused Abraham
Vlok built a further bomb at the game farm in a Karet trailer with serial
number LM6-R-343 STD and a registration number NSY 742 T.
13. Aforementioned trailer was, with the bomb mounted therein, taken to
Germiston on 25 April 1994. Accused Jan de Wet drove the vehicle which
pulled the trailer, while Abraham Vlok was the crew. Accused Etienne le Roux
and Du Plessis accompanied the other two to Germiston, in Etienne le Roux's
vehicle. The bomb was detonated at 08h45 in Odendaal Street, Germiston.
(Eight people were killed in this attack, which also destroyed dozens of
Black taxis).
14. The explosives used in the building of the aforementioned trailer were
supplied by accused Cornelius Botha (jnr) and Cornelius Botha (snr).
15. A further group of conspirators which included accused Johannes Olivier,
Serge D'Abbadie and Dirk Meyer, who were under the command of accused
Milestone Sharp, arrived at the game farm on the morning of 25 April 1994
from Natal. After their arrival on the game farm accused (AWB secretary
general) Nico Prinsloo, who introduced himself as `general Prinsloo'
informed them about the situation. The core of his talk contained the
following: (his precise words are unknown to the state):
15.1 That it was now war and that those who want to leave the game farm will
be shot;
15.2 That a few bombs had already gone off. He explained that another group,
the Boere Krisis Aksie (the Boer Crisis Action- a group of militant
Afrikaner farmers) had also left off a few bombs, and that the Telkom
exchange and electronic instrumentation which had been blown up was the work
of the BKA. He said that the BKA had been informed that the
telecommunications were of such a nature that they could not afford for them
to be destroyed, but that they however would have no problem if the BKA
destroyed power lines.
15.3 That the persons at the farm could expect to be there for at least two
or three months;
15.4 That strict entrance control would be implemented and that no-one could
enter or leave the area without permission;
15.5 That there could be a visit from the police and it must look like those
present were busy with a training camp;
15.6 That illegal weapons must be hidden in the hills around the camp, but
in such a manner that they could easily be picked up;
15.7 That it was fairly safe on the game farm as guards had been deployed on
top of the hill and by the gate;
15.8 That they were going to see strange things and that certain persons
would be busy building things but that this would be no reason for concern;
15.9 That the men should now forget for a while about their women, but that
opportunity would be given to phone them and to visit them on certain
weekends;
15.10 That when the men did go and telephone their wives, they would be
escorted by two members of the Ystergarde.
16. The accused Johannes Smit also addressed the persons and amongst other
things said to them:
16.1 That his 9mm pistol was illegal. He took his weapon out and showed it
to the men;
16.2 That if someone tried to run away, he personally would shoot them dead;
16.3 That a roster would be worked out for guard duties;
16.4 That illegal weapons should be hidden;
16.5 That each person should write his name on a piece of paper and indicate
what his area of speciality was.
17. Accused Abraham Fourie, who acted as camp commander, then also addressed
the men. He laid out the rules with regard to camp hygiene and said that
no-one could leave the camp without his permission.
18. On 26 April 1994 the game farm was evacuated and those present,
including the accused and persons unknown to the state, moved in several
small convoys, using secondary roads, to a shooting range at Waterval in the
district of Rustenburg (hereafter called the shooting range).
19. After their arrival at the shooting range accused (AWB secretary
general) Nico Prinsloo gave orders to accused Clint Entlish and Jan Kruger
to hide a number of pipe bombs, explosives and explosive equipment in the
bush, which they then did.
20. Accused Milestone Sharp then gave accused Serge D'Abbadie and one Pieter
Swanepoel and Anton Oelofse orders to hide the following items in the bush:
a R1 rifle, a box with R1 ammunition, and two bottles containing explosives.
21. Accused Abraham Fourie then gave the men orders to conceal illegal
weapons in the surrounding bush. If the police should arrive at the scene
the hidden weapons should be quickly obtained and the police should be led
into an ambush if they approached the bushes, he said. He further told the
men that the police were going to be informed of their presence there, but
that the purpose of their presence there was going to be made out to be for
training and patrols.
22. During the night of 26 April 1994 accused Nicolaas Barnard and accused
Jan Kruger and Du Plessis gave orders to the men to go and fetch the pipe
bombs which accused Clint Entlish and Jan Kruger had earlier hidden in the
bush. Accused Jan Kruger and Du Plessis then fetched five pipe bombs and
handed them to accused Abraham Myburgh. Thereafter accused (AWB secretary
general) Nico Prinsloo gave orders to accused Jan Kruger and Du Plessis to
go and fetch the rest of the hidden explosives, which was then done.
23. Accused Abraham Myburgh then gave two pipe bombs to accused Milestone
Sharp, Johannes Olivier, Serge D'Abbadie, Willem Hattingh, Andreas Coetzee
and Hercules Coetzee, as well as the other conspirators who had come from
Natal. Accused Abraham Myburgh explained to the aforementioned conspirators
how to detonate the pipe bombs. The two bombs were destined to be detonated
in the Benoni area. Accused Johannes Olivier, Serge D'Abbadie, Willem
Hattingh, Andreas Coetzee as well as one Doppies Treurnicht left for Benoni
at approximately 18h00. Two vehicles were used for the expedition. One
vehicle was used as a lead car while the pipe bombs were transported in the
second car.
24. Around 21h40 during the evening of 26 April 1994 accused Johannes
Olivier who was driving a vehicle with Doppies Treurnicht as passenger,
drove through a police roadblock in Main Reef Road West, Benoni. The vehicle
was pursued by members of the Benoni traffic department. Shots were then
fired from the vehicle at the traffic policemen. After accused Johannes
Olivier brought the vehicle to a standstill, he and Doppies Treurnicht
jumped out and ran way. Accused Johannes Olivier was arrested a short way
away but Doppies Treurnicht got away. In the vehicle one pipe bomb was
found. Shortly thereafter another pipe bomb was found alongside the road
where it had been thrown out of the aforementioned vehicle before it driven
through the police road block. Accused Serge D'Abbadie, Willem Hattingh and
Andreas Coetzee returned during the course of the night of 26/27 April to
the shooting range.
25. During the night of 26 April 1994 some of the conspirators at the
shooting range moved by car to the farm of accused Jan de Wet where they met
their wives.
26. During the evening of 25 April accused Willem Hattingh and Andreas
Coetzee stole a Peugeot vehicle with registration number FXS768T from
Homelake Street, Randfontein.
27. During the evening of 26 April 1994 the aforementioned Koekemoer, with
the help of accused Etienne le Roux, Nicolaas Barnard, Cornelius Botha
(jnr), Cornelius Botha (snr) and Gert Alberts, made a bomb in the
aforementioned Peugeot. Accused Nicolaas Barnard explained to accused
Etienne le Roux and Du Plessis how to detonate the bomb.
28. On 27 April 1994 at approximately 02h45 accused Nicolaas Barnard gave
orders to accused Etienne le Roux, Jan Kruger and Du Plessis to go to Jan
Smuts International Airport (Johannesburg) with the aforementioned Peugeot
and detonate it. Accused Jan Kruger and Du Plessis drove in the Peugeot
while accused Etienne le Roux accompanied them in another vehicle. At
approximately 07h00 the same morning the bomb was detonated in the under
cover parking area at Jan Smuts airport. No persons were killed during the
explosion but the persons named in charges 64 to 73 were seriously injured
during the explosion.
29. Early in the morning of 27 April 1994 at the shooting range accused
Milestone Sharp gave the order to the conspirators to pack up and move off
the range. At about 05h15 the same morning members of the South African
police swooped on the shooting range while the conspirators were busy
withdrawing. Accused Nicolaas Barnard, Abraham Myburgh, Milestone Sharp,
Johannes Smit, Clint Entlish, Serge D'Abbadie, Willem Hattingh, Andreas
Coetzee, Cornelius Botha (jnr), Cornelius Botha (snr), Dirk Meyer, Hercules
Coetzee and Gert Alberts were the persons arrested in the immediate vicinity
of the shooting range.
30. During the arrests the accused as mentioned in paragraph 29, the
following items were seized in the immediate vicinity of the shooting range:
(a) 16 machine guns as in charge 80;
(b) nine unlicensed firearms as in charge 82;
(c) 30 465 rounds of ammunition of various calibers;
(d) forty licensed firearms;
(e) four crossbows with arrows;
(f) 32 two way radios;
(g) four bullet proof vests;
(h) nine parachutes;
(i) one angle grinder;
(j) one welding machine;
(k) eight battery chargers;
(l) explosives, explosive devices and parts thereof:
1 x 150 gram Dinogel explosive;
49 x 250 gram Emex explosive;
7 x 150 gram Emex explosive;
62 x 250 gram Tovex explosive;
2 x 150 gram Emex packaging;
1 x 250 gram Cordtex fuse;
1 x 500ml soft drink bottle containing Emex explosive;
2 x M65 hand grenades;
1 x limpet mine;
100 x ordinary attaching fuse;
5 x ordinary electric detonators;
13 x electronically delayed detonators;
20 x wax cartridges with megnadet detonating systems;
50 x Sure Start electric igniters for fuses;
1 x roll Stope Cord 9 fuse;
5 x rolls slow burning fuse;
1 x roll Stope line fuse;
(m) medical equipment including bandages and intravenous feeding apparatus;
(n) 173 back packs with additional clothing which included camouflage of
different organizations;
(o) a large quantity of non perishable foodstuffs."
It is worth noting the second last item listed above as being seized at the
shooting range: 173 back packs were found but in total only about 40 men
were ever arrested.
It would be fair then to presume that the 40 men so arrested did not each
carry two or three back packs, so then it appears as if there are still more
than 130 people who were present at the shooting range, apprehended and
indeed unidentified.
Other incidents of note during the same period included the following:
the bomb blast in Bree Street, Johannesburg, killed an ANC candidate in the
elections, a white woman by the name of Susan Keane.
at the scene of the Pretoria restaurant bombing, a police guard at the scene
of the blast, shot and killed a White man who was part of a group of Whites
who were scratching through the rubble at 3am the following morning,
apparently in search of clues which might lead to the identity of the
bombers. The men were all wearing balaclavas.
before the police roadblock system achieved its breakthrough in Benoni, the
police had offered a R2 million reward to any person providing information
which would lead to the arrest and conviction of the bombers - the largest
reward ever offered in South African history.
several other bombs exploded at various places around the country as well,
with the biggest of these going off in Kimberly in the Northern Cape.
The new South African constitution ironically guaranteed the right to bail,
so the AWB men initially arrested at the Rustenburg shooting range were
granted bail of R10 000 each.
Not all the accused were arrested at the shooting range. Several were
arrested later as the police started to put together a picture of what they
believed had happened. One of those who was the last to be arrested was
Etienne le Roux, who was only granted bail during the court case itself.
Doppies Treurnicht, the man in the car which was stopped at the roadblock in
Benoni, was eventually arrested eleven months later in March 1995 at his
home town of Port Nolloth in the Northern Cape. He however turned state
witness, and was not charged.
Evidence presented before the court contained some dramatic revelations not
contained in the charge sheet, and these revelations included the following:
The state's case rested heavily on AWB turncoats and the king pin in this
evidence has been Jacob Koekemoer, one of those originally arrested at the
shooting range. Without his evidence the state would have battled to put
together a case at all, even though there were a number of other
corroborating witnesses as well.
Koekemoer, who had been kept in protective custody, testified before the
Rand Supreme Court that he had helped to build the bombs which were used in
the bombing campaign of April 1994. He said he had been approached by AWB
commandant (and accused) Abraham Fourie, while on a game farm on the weekend
prior to the April elections. Fourie had asked him if he had knowledge of
explosives, to which he replied that he was a qualified blaster on the
mines. He was asked to accompany accused Etienne le Roux, Clifton Barnard
and Abraham Myburgh, who drove to the Koesterfontein farm in the Krugersdorp
area, on Saturday 23 April 1994.
At the farm they unloaded six 50 kg bags of Anfax explosives from the boot
of the car. Barnard said they wanted to build a car bomb, or a bomb to be
placed next to a building to cause large scale damage. He said they hoped
this would "prevent the Blacks from voting."
Koekemoer told the men that a car bomb would be more suitable, as it would
not be noticeable. They built the bomb by placing 100 kg of Anfax mixed with
diesel in the barrel of a grass roller. Koekemoer then placed 20 sticks of
Watergel plastic explosive in the center of the barrel, before another 100
kg mix of Anfax and diesel was used to fill it.
All four of them loaded the grass roller into the boot of a blue gray Audi.
Koekemoer said he made a fuse which would take about six minutes to burn,
extending from the boot to between the front seats. He told the men that
once the fuse was set, the burning would be visible from outside the car.
Further explosives and pieces of iron were packed close to the car's petrol
tank. Koekemoer said Barnard, who was in charge, wanted to set the car bomb
off at a taxi rank in central Johannesburg. Barnard and Myburgh were to
drive the Audi, while Le Roux drove ahead to warn of police road blocks.
Koekemoer told the court that after he had built the first car bomb, the
three men who had delivered the bomb to its target, Clifton Barnard, Abraham
Fourie and Etienne le Roux, had returned to the game farm. There they had
told Koekemoer that they had heard the explosion and "had felt an enormous
tremor" when they stopped at a red traffic light some distance away.
Barnard had then instructed him to build a second bomb, Koekemoer said.
Barnard also mentioned that he would tell the owner of the Audi car used in
the first blast to report it as stolen.
Koekemoer said Barnard had told him that the explosives, fuses and
detonators for the second bomb had been provided by accused Cornelius Botha
senior, who had obtained them from the Mooinooi mine.
Koekemoer built the second bomb in a white trailer, which he was told
belonged to AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche.
It consisted of a 19 kg gas cylinder, 40 sticks of Watergel plastic
explosive sticks and a mixture of Anfax explosive and diesel fuel which was
poured over the top.
Accused Jan de Wet and Abraham Vlok then drove a red Nissan Skyline to
Germiston with the trailer attached. Accused Johan du Plessis and Etienne le
Roux accompanied them in another car, he said.
Koekemoer said he was "shocked" when he heard later that people had been
killed in the blast. However, he said Barnard and Le Roux sounded cheerful
about it, "and I fell in with them."
That afternoon they went to the game farm in the Koster district. Koekemoer
said AWB members had watched the 8pm newscast on television, and had cheered
when they saw the newscast.
During his evidence, Koekemoer alleged that he had been a police nformer
from the beginning. He told the court that he had joined the AWB on the
instructions of his employers, the police security branch.
Despite this he had built several bombs for the AWB, he said, denying
defense accusations that he had acted on orders from a "third force" within
the police.
Koekemoer admitted that without his expertise gained as a blaster on the
mines, the bombs "would probably not have been built." Defense advocate
Louisa van der Walt put it to him that he had built the bombs on orders from
the police, and this was why he had made no attempt to contact the police
while at the farm.
She said the bombs had been built on orders from the police to commit acts
of terror as part of a "Third Force". In so doing they had "attempted to
discredit the AWB, to create chaos and to sow the seeds of a fear psychosis
so that the elections would fail." Koekemoer strongly denied all the
allegations.
He said that his last instructions from his handler was that if his life was
in danger, he should act to protect himself.
He felt that if he had not complied with the request to build the bombs, his
life would have been in danger. He had been told that if anyone "turned"
that would be the end of that person.
On joining the Ystergarde he had taken the oath expected of every member:`if
I should turn, shoot me' he said. Van der Walt put it to him that "this oath
meant nothing to him as he had already spied on his own people."
Koekemoer said he had "tried to build faults in the bomb," but was told that
if it did not work, he "would be in trouble." He said he had made the bombs
out of fear for his own life.
He admitted he had made the pipe bombs safer for the people who were
handling them, by replacing rapid burning cortex fuse with a detonator fuse.
The cortex fuse burns at 8 000m per second.
This admission brought an admonishment from the judge, Justice Flemming, who
remarked to Koekemoer that "you made it safer for the man throwing it, but
thought nothing of the 20 or 40 people who would be on the receiving end."
Koekemoer said he planned to contact his handlers, but was afraid to use the
party telephone line at the farm in case other people were listening in. He
had not attempted to escape from the farm because he thought he might be
caught by AWB patrols. "I knew it was wrong and a mistake on my part, but in
the situation I feared for my life," he said.
This line of argument however fell to pieces when Koekemoer admitted that he
had made the "corrections" to the pipe bombs while all alone on a farm near
Krugersdorp the weekend before the elections.
At the farm he had access to two way radios, and had still not used them to
contact the police, never mind having been left alone with the bombs for a
whole day.
Koekemoer also alleged that a bomb large enough to "lower airplanes from the
sky" was initially intended to be used by the AWB to bomb either the Union
Buildings in Pretoria or Jan Smuts airport.
He said a smaller bomb destined for Jan Smuts airport was eventually built
in a Peugeot car because accused Clifton Barnard had been unable to obtain a
petrol tanker in which the larger bomb would have been built.
The car used in the Bree Street, Johannesburg, bombing of 24 April 1994, was
in the possession of one of the AWB members standing trial, the court was
told by one of the state witnesses, Barend Breytenbach, of Ventersdorp.
Breytenbach told the court that the car, a green Audi, had belonged to his
father, Marthinus Breytenbach. His father had died in January 1995.
He said his father had lent the car to one of the accused, Clifton Barnard,
on Friday 22 April 1994. On Saturday 23 April he and his father drove
through Ventersdorp in a minibus they had been lent in exchange for the
Audi, and saw Barnard standing next to the Audi outside the AWB
headquarters.
Barnard had told them they could only get the vehicle back `later' and they
had gone home, he testified.
On Sunday 24 April, they drove to Barnard's farm 15 km outside Ventersdorp,
but Barnard was not there. After they had spent the day having a barbecue
and riding horses, Barnard had eventually returned late that afternoon in a
brown Toyota Corolla car.
Breytenbach's younger brother, Rudolf, then testified that on Barnard's
return, when his father had asked Barnard what had become of the Audi,
Barnard had motioned him aside. Rudolf overheard Barnard tell his father
that the car was a "wreck" and described his father as being very upset.
When they returned home, they found a note under their front door,
apparently from Barnard, requesting his father to meet Barnard at
"headquarters." Later his father and Barnard's mother told him and his
brother not "to say anything about what they had seen or heard."
Breytenbach said the car was never returned to them. The court had heard
earlier that it had been reported stolen to the police at 6pm on Sunday 24
April.
Another witness, a Black man named Abraham Kujani, told the court that he
had seen two White men driving an Audi and park it in Bree Street on the
Sunday morning shortly before the bomb went off.
Kujani described the driver of the Audi as being tall, with blonde hair and
a beard. He was carrying a firearm. Kujani said he became suspicious of the
car on seeing smoke coming from the inside. He noticed two policemen at a
cafe across the road and then attempted to follow the men, but lost sight of
them.
One of the accused was apprehended in a road block on 26 April 1994 in a car
containing two pipe bombs, according to policemen doing duty at a road block
on that day.
The court heard that accused Johannes Olivier, 40, of the farm Leafontein in
the Boons district, had chased through a roadblock on Main Reef Road, near
Benoni, on the evening of 26 April.
State witness FG Wolmarans, who was doing a national service camp with the
Benoni army commando, said he had been stationed with three others about 800
m from the main roadblock. They had been told to be on the lookout for a
white Ford Cortina.
At 9.40pm he noticed a car fitting the description come round the corner.
The car stopped about 20 m away from them and he noticed an object being
thrown out the passenger door. As they approached the car, he saw two White
men sitting in front. It began driving slowly towards the main roadblock.
They radioed back to the main road block, who had told them that the car had
sped through at high speed and traffic officers were in pursuit.
A Benoni traffic officer, Hendrik Janse van Rensburg, then testified how he
and a colleague had pursued the Cortina to First Avenue, Northmead, where
the occupants got out of the car and attempted to escape. During the chase,
they heard several shots fired from the Cortina. He and his fellow officer
pursued Olivier on foot, and apprehended him.
Major Lionel Palmer, of the Benoni Crime Intelligence Service, said he found
a pipe bomb in the boot of the car after questioning Olivier, who said he
was the owner of the car. The object thrown out of the car was also a pipe
bomb.
Olivier told him that he and his companion had identified a target in
Boksburg frequented by Blacks where they would use the smaller of the pipe
bombs, and were on their way to Benoni to identify a second target where the
larger of the two bombs would be used.
Doppies Treurnicht, the man who was in the vehicle who got out and ran away,
was arrested after nearly a year on the run in the West Coast town of Port
Nolloth in March 1995.
Treurnicht, who was widely expected to join the accused, made a surprise
appearance as a state witness instead, although it turned out that his
evidence was not of such great value to the state as the prosecutors had
originally hoped.
Treurnicht testified that he was in a car with accused Johannes Olivier,
which was stopped in a road block on the way to the East Rand town of Benoni
on the evening of 26 April 1994.
He said the car contained two pipe bombs, one in the car and one in the
boot. Another car with other AWB men had been following them, he said.
Treurnicht said that when he saw the road block he instructed Olivier to
pull over to the side of the road. He had then thrown the pipe bomb in the
car out of the window.
They had then sped through the road block. He had fired several shots into
the road with his own firearm, but denied that he had fired shots at the
police.
Treurnicht said he was only able to identify Olivier, and one other accused,
Milestone Sharp, as having been on the game farm at Rustenburg where the
police had swooped on the AWB camp. He said Sharp had asked him and Olivier
when the came off guard duty at the camp's shooting range if either of them
"knew Benoni."
Treurnicht said he was unable to identify the other people who had followed
the vehicle in which he had traveled and that he could not identify the
person who had demonstrated how the pipe bombs had worked.
Treurnicht also denied ever having seen another state witness, Jacob
Koekemoer, whom the state alleged actually made the bombs.
AWB turncoat Barend Honiball testified in court that he had been part of a
group of AWB men gathered on a game farm in the Western Transvaal where he
had seen pipe bombs being handled.
He said two of the men, accused Jan Kruger, 20, and Johan du Plessis, had
given the men "instructions on how to steal cars."
Further he had been present when a red Nissan Skyline had arrived at the
farm, driven by Ystergarde leader Leon van der Merwe. Honiball and other
members were told to off load several pipe bombs from the boot of the car.
He said he had first heard about the Bree Street bomb when he saw a
newspaper report. Another one of the accused, Clint Entlish, had then told
him that "this is only the start, there are still lots to come."
Honiball said Du Plessis and accused Gert Fourie had asked for volunteers
amongst the men who had cars, to target various places where the pipe bombs
could be thrown.
He said he went to see the police a half hour after being dropped off by
other AWB members in Pretoria a few days later.
One of the police officers investigating the bombings told the court that a
metal plate with a serial number from a trailer had been found on the farm
where the bombs were allegedly manufactured.
The court had heard earlier that the bomb which exploded at a Germiston taxi
rank on 25 April had been detonated in a trailer.
Warrant Officer G Pitout said he went to search the farm Koesterfontein in
Magaliesburg, where the bomb had allegedly been made. The farm is owned by
the father of one of the accused, Abraham Myburgh.
Pitout said he had found the metal plate in an uninhabited building. The
serial number belonged to a trailer registered in the name of AWB leader,
Eugene Terre'Blanche.
State witness Lizanne Kuhrau testified before the court that one of the
accused, Jaco Nel, had come to stay with her at the Oewers holiday resort
near Brits on 26 April 1994, "worried that the police were looking for him."
Kuhrau, who was estranged from her husband at the time, said two other
accused, Petrus Steyn, 34 of Sundra, and Gert Fourie, 37, of Springs, had
accompanied Nel when he came to see her at her friend's flat in Sunnyside,
Pretoria, on the morning of 25 April.
They had left the flat in her friend's car, a blue Citi Golf, and returned
later that day. On the afternoon of 26 April, Nel arrived at the resort with
three other men. She identified one as Johannes Smit, 26, of Vereniging.
Nel told her he had heard a report on the radio saying the police were
looking for a blue car in connection with a bomb explosion in Marabastad,
Pretoria, on the night of 25 April.
He was worried that the police were looking for him and asked if he could
spend the night. She agreed and the other three men had left.
Kuhrau, who has since reconciled with her husband, said she made a statement
to the police on 21 July 1994. She denied that she had made the report
because her relationship with Nel had failed.
She said Nel had asked her to make a false statement saying she had been
with him from 10am on 25 April until the following day. Defense advocate
Harry Prinsloo said Nel would deny this.
AWB turncoat Dawid Potgieter testified in court how he and two others had
bombed a taxi rank in Westonaria on 25 April 1994. He said he had been
amongst those gathered at a game farm in the Koster district for several
days before the elections.
Accused Johan du Plessis, 26, had asked for volunteers, he testified. He
required four men with cars, and another eight men as passengers to set off
pipe bombs in various areas. Potgieter said he was chosen to accompany
Martin Wiebosch and accused Jan Kruger, 20, to set off a bomb in Westonaria.
Wiebosch was not one the accused and also gave evidence for the state.
Potgieter said they had left the farm early on 25 April. They surveyed
several possible targets, including a taxi rank at Westonaria, the train
station and the mine, before deciding to bomb a taxi rank on the way to
Carletonville. At about 8am they threw the ignited pipe bomb in the
direction of the taxi rank, where it landed under one of the vehicles.
Potgieter said he saw someone pick up the pipe bomb, and put it down again,
warning other bystanders. People then scattered as the bomb went off.
Potgieter said he later reported to AWB commandant Abraham Fourie that the
bomb had gone off successfully, but that he did not know if anyone had been
killed.
A statement which formed a crucial part of the state's case against several
of the AWB men was ruled inadmissible by the presiding judge, HCJ Flemming,
after a "trial within a trial" over the admissibility of the statement and
another two state documents.
One of the last state witnesses was the investigating officer in the Bree
Street bomb blast, captain Jacobus Terblanche. The defense put it to captain
Terblanche that another police captain, Nick Deetleefs and state witness
Jacobus Koekemoer had "colluded in making Mr. Koekemoer's statement." (It
was Koekemoer's evidence earlier in the trial which was the most damaging to
the defense.)
Terblanche conceded under cross examination that it was "possible" that the
statement could have been interfered with.
A Colonel Nick Engelbrecht also testified that he had taken a statement from
one of the accused, Jannie Kruger in May 1984. Kruger had been arrested
along with another accused, Josais Cruywagen, and both had allegedly made
statements. The defense however contested the admissibility of the
statements, arguing that they had been filed in without either of the two
accused' knowledge or permission.
Engelbrecht said Kruger had made his statement freely and voluntarily, and
had not insisted on a legal representative being present even though he had
been advised that he could have one if he so wished.
The defense team put it to Engelbrecht that he and his team were "in a
quandary" and desperate for statements after the legal counsel of the men
arrested at the shooting range near Rustenburg on 27 April had advised the
men there not to make any statements.
The defense put it to Engelbrecht that part of the statement he had taken
from Kruger had been completed in his absence. Engelbrecht denied this. The
defense then asked him why if it were true that Engelbrecht had not asked
Kruger any questions, save for gaining clarification on the events he
allegedly described, Kruger had known that he had to begin the statement by
supplying details of his schooling and occupational training.
Kruger himself testified that the police had told him that if he refused to
become a state witness, he would most certainly get the death penalty. He
said at first he refused to make a statement but had been told that he would
enjoy protection as a witness for the state, a car, accommodation, a job and
"compensation."
When he got to police head quarters in Johannesburg, he was taken to
Engelbrecht's offices in Germiston where he made a statement. On his way to
court for a bail application on 23 May 1993, he said Engelbrecht had
approached him with a statement on which he had marked with crosses the
places where Kruger was required to sign.
He said he had signed the statement after being told that was a form from
the attorney general's office which he was obliged to sign as a state
witness. He had however been charged along with the other accused in the
case.
The statement which Engelbrecht had drawn up and which Kruger had been shown
unsigned and asked to sign was now the one that the state was trying to
submit as evidence, the defense said.
Finally on 6 April 1995 Justice Flemming ruled that Kruger had had little
choice in making a statement "as he had virtually been placed between the
devil and the deep blue sea."
He said the reasons police gave as to why they did not give Kruger the
option of making the statement before a magistrate were unconvincing. Police
had testified that it was "too early" to get a magistrate in before whom a
statement could be made.
"One wonders why, after he was given legal advice to the contrary, the
accused would suddenly have been prepared to make a statement," Flemming
continued.
He said that from the content of Kruger's evidence and on the balance of
probabilities, it could not be said that he was not speaking the truth" and
that therefore the alleged statement was not admissible.
(The statement made by Kruger was to the effect that he had personally
driven the car bomb used in the attack on Jan Smuts airport, and that he had
been injured in the resultant blast when he had not been able to get away in
time. He had then walked back to Ventersdorp - a distance of over 140
kilometers - over two days, spending nights in the veld, with a head wound.
He had then been sent down to the Eastern Cape by the AWB to hide from the
police, but he had been identified by the state witness Koekemoer and was
eventually arrested.)
The new interim constitution of South Africa contained a clause which
compelled the newly elected government to grant amnesty for political crimes
committed before 5 December 1993. As the election time bombings fell outside
this date, the AWB took it upon itself to try and get this date extended to
10 May 1994 - the date of the swearing in of Nelson Mandela as president of
South Africa. To this purpose the AWB leader appointed his media secretary,
Fred Rundle to the post of "Chief Negotiator" and instructed him to make
submissions to the ANC Minister of Justice, Dullah Omar, and Mandela to try
and get the amnesty cut off date extended.
After several written submissions and a meeting between Rundle and Omar, an
invitation was extended to the AWB to address the parliamentary Standing
Committee on Justice in Cape Town on the issue. Despite all these efforts,
the ANC dominated government decided against extending the deadline.
This refusal to consider the AWB men for inclusion under the amnesty law
provoked an immediate response - four of the main accused- Clifton Barnard,
Etienne le Roux, Abraham Myburgh and Jan de Wet (the first three were
accused of planting the Bree Street bomb, while De Wet was accused of
planting the Germiston bomb) skipped bail on Wednesday 12 April 1995 and
went underground.
On that day the four men failed to appear in court along with the other
accused in the case and warrants were issued for their arrest. Their bail of
R50 000 each was declared forfeit to the state.
Their attempt at escaping was however short lived, as they were rearrested
at a police road block between Piet Retief and Pongola on the Natal /
Swaziland border on 19 April 1995.
Although the police claimed the four men were arrested at a "routine" road
block, this appears most certainly to be an invented story to cover
for the fact that the AWB men were betrayed at some point in their travels.
The police said that the four men were recognized "by chance" by one of the
men manning the road block "who happened to have been part of the original
arrest team" in the Transvaal.
The chances of a policeman working a roadblock in Northern Natal having been
one of the original arrest team is of course extremely slim, and it is far
more likely that the arrest team officers were brought down to Natal
especially for the road block prior to it being set up, so that there would
be people present who could identify the AWB men. All this would indicate
that the road block had been set up precisely for the purpose of arresting
the men following on information that they would be travelling that
particular road.
The driver of the pick up in which the four men were travelling, was
released by police virtually immediately afterwards, after apparently
claiming that he did not know to who he was giving a lift. This story is of
course also extremely dubious.
The four men re-applied for bail once they were back in Johannesburg, and to
no-one's great surprise, the request was refused.
The state then closed its case and the defense team immediately requested
the Court to discharge on all counts 16 of the 26 accused in the case.
The defense team submitted that the following accused should be discharged
on all counts as the state had failed to produce any evidence linking them
to any of the incidents: Nico Prinsloo; Leon van der Merwe; Abraham Fourie;
his brother Gert Fourie; Hercules Coetzee; his brother Andreas Coetzee;
Cornelius Botha; his son Cornelius Botha junior; Gert Alberts; Milestone
Sharp; Serge D'Abbadie; Dirk Meyer; Johannes Smit; Clint Entlish; Petrus
Steyn; and Johan Du Plessis.
The defense also argued that there was no evidence of the involvement of
Etienne le Roux; Cliff Barnard; and Jan de Wet in the Randfontein,
Westonaria, Pretoria and Jan Smuts airport bomb blasts, and that charges
against them relating to these incidents should also be dismissed.
The defense further argued that there was no evidence against Jan de Wet in
the Bree Street bombing incident, and that this charge against him should be
dismissed. The defense further applied for the discharge of accused Jaco Nel
on all counts except the Pretoria bomb.
This plea was only partially met - seven of the accused were cleared on all
counts except for the illegal possession of firearms and explosives, while
another one was discharged on all counts except the illegal possession of
firearms and explosives charges and one charge of car theft.
Etienne le Roux, Cliff Barnard, Abraham Myburgh and Jan de Wet, remained
charged with all 96 counts, which included all the murder charges. Abraham
Fourie, Johannes Venter and Johan du Plessis had all charges except those
relating to the Bree Street, Germiston and Jan Smuts car bombings withdrawn.
Justice Flemming said the state had failed to prove that there was a
conspiracy to commit deeds of terror to disrupt the elections. He said it
was "not unthinkable" that among the AWB members gathered at the farm, there
was a "relatively innocent group" who only knew about the pipe bombs.
The judge said the Bree Street, Germiston and Jan Smuts car bombs had all
been built on the farm Koesterfontein. There was no technical reason why
they could not have been built on the game farm. It could be that the
building of the car bombs was done in such a way as to prevent the people at
the game farm from knowing about them.
Aside from the evidence of state witness Koekemoer who was an accomplice as
well as a witness, there was very little evidence about what went on at
Koesterfontein.
The judge described Koekemoer as "not only an unconvincing but also a very
poor witness" whose evidence could not be accepted by a court "without
reasonable doubt."
The case was then postponed to September 1995 in order to give time to the
defense to prepare their case. However, when the case was restarted it was
once again postponed to 12 February 1996, pending the outcome of a case in
the then newly established constitutional court. The issue at stake was
whether it was fair to charge everyone present at the shooting range with
possession of the firearms and ammunition when they all denied knowledge of
the items and no one particular person was found to be in possession of
them.
Postscript
On 5 November 1994, Johan Heyns, a prominent Afrikaner theologian and former
moderator of the biggest Afrikaans church, NG Church, was assassinated in hi
s Pretoria home while playing with his grandchildren. Heyns was the key man
in turning the Afrikaners around against Apartheid through their church by
getting their main church to declare Apartheid a heresy. This was a direct
turnaround from the church's earlier position which had endorsed Apartheid.
As the Afrikaners are to this day extremely attached to their church and
religion, there can be little doubt that this shift by the NG Church did
much to persuade Afrikaners to continue supporting the National Party's
reform policies. As such, Heyns fast became one of the most hated men
amongst the right wing.
In April 1995 police discovered three large arms caches which they later
linked to AWB fugitive and former Reconnaissance army unit soldier Thys de
Villiers. De Villiers eventually arrested in June 1995, and although the
police initially suggested that he would be charged with the Heyns'
assassination, they later had to admit that they did not have enough
evidence against him to press that charge.
De Villiers was however charged with a number of murders, including that of
an alleged police informant and some ANC members south of Johannesburg
home.com
> Lekker lees.....
>
> The True story of Boer Resistance to the ANC Takeover in South Africa!
> There are many critics who accuse the Afrikaner Resistance Movement - AWB in
> Afrikaans - of "having done nothing" to try and physically prevent the
> takeover of South Africa by the ANC - as had long been that organization's
> war cry by it's leader, Eugene Terre'Blanche at AWB rallies.
>
> This criticism is based on ignorance of the facts - the truth is that out of
> all of the numerous right wing organizations which threatened violence and
> uprising should the ANC take over, the only organized active physical
> resistance came from the AWB - and this was acknowledged in a strange way by
> the government of the time with the calling out of a state of emergency in
> the Western Transvaal in April 1994.
Aaaaaa. die Slag van Bophutuswana,gedokumenteer in Frikkie se geliefde
Engels.
Gloudina
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Tobie
"Frikkie Potgieter" :
---------knip--------
: De Villiers was however charged with a number of murders,
including that of
: an alleged police informant and some ANC members south of
Johannesburg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frikkie wat het van Kaalvoet geword?