OWN CORRESPONDENT in Kimberly | Wednesday 10.00pm.
RIGHTWING activist Willem Ratte and 10 accomplices were planning to “take over the government” using anti-tank weaponry, RPG7 rocket launchers and mortars they tried to steal from the Pomfret military base in 1997, the Kimberley Regional Court heard on Wednesday.
In his testimony, base commander Colonel Daan van der Merwe said the men were arrested on February 10 after Ratte had asked a logistics department employee, Sergeant Johan Uys, to point out weapons stores and sentry posts.
“Uys told me he pointed out a store where no weapons were being kept to foil Ratte. This decreased the base’s risk and met with my approval,” he said.
The South African National Defence Force, members of the police’s task force and reconnaissance soldiers from Phalaborwa then thoroughly prepared themselves for Ratte’s alleged operation to obtain the weaponry, he said. The accused have denied charges of theft, sabotage and terrorism.