Jaspreet Kindra and Sapa
Afrikaner Weerstands- beweging (AWB) leader Eugene Terre’Blanche arrived at the Potchefstroom Regional Court on Thursday, dressed in black denim pants, a black shirt and a khaki hat. He sat in front of the court building on the horse, waving at the crowd. He shook hands with black people in the crowd. An AWB band played Die Lied van Jong Suid-Afrika. He said goodbye to his horse.
And then the great saviour of the Afrikaner tribe, the scourge of black South Africa, meekly handed himself over and went to jail.
It might not be his black cellmates who pose the greatest threat to his well- being during the next 12 months, but his former comrades imprisoned for their efforts to secure his volkstaat.
An emotional Cedric Martin, whose son is serving a life sentence, says the parents of former AWB members “pray he lands in the same prison.
“In the prison there are no baadjies vir maatjies [old boys’ networks]. He is nothing but a papbroek [coward],” Martin spits out.
“Terre’Blanche should get no special treatment – as the blacks serve time with whites among them, so should he. We will be watching.”
Martin’s son, Deon, a former AWB member, is among the “Radora Crossing Nine”, some of whom are serving life sentences at Leeuwkop Maximum Security prison for killing four people during a pre-1994 election blitz allegedly ordered by Terre’Blanche.
He is one of more than 20 rightwingers whom Terre’Blanche will be joining behind bars. Other prominent far-right prisoners serving life sentences are Clive Derby- Lewis and Janusz Walus, convicted of the assassination of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani and serving time in Pretoria Maximum Security prison.
In 1993, Terre’-Blanche’s AWB called on whites to arm themselves. Many right-wing youth subsequently found themselves in prison for crimes which they maintained were acts they had been duty-bound to perform.
These included bombings, gunning down black bus passengers, and following various bizarre requests from AWB strongmen – like general Jappie Oelofse’s order to Deon Martin to bring him the severed ear from a black person’s body.
And now Terre’Blanche himself has been banished to a year in prison for assaulting a petrol attendant and inciting his dog to bite him. The once proud leader of the AWB has suffered other embarrassing attacks from former comrades. Earlier this year he was taken to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration for allegedly failing to give back-pay to two of his commanders. Both men – Cliffie Barnard and Koper Myburgh – were Terre’Blanche’s bodyguards, and are currently serving life sentences in C-Max for their involvement in the 1994 bombing campaign.
Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen feels “sorry” for the AWB leader. He thinks Terre’Blanche ought to be treated as a political prisoner. “Terre’Blanche and the government are at loggerheads – now, especially in a jail, he is directly in the hands of the government – I hope they treat Terre’Blanche in a decent way.” He adds that his eyes are on the African National Congress-led government, as there are concerns regarding the standard of human rights in jails. Viljoen says he visited some of the former AWB members behind bars six months ago. “They are very unhappy, especially about the amnesty process – they feel they had only been following orders.”
There is a strong sense of betrayal in the voices of the relatives, who prefer to call the former AWB members “political prisoners”. Martin rejects Terre’Blanche’s statement that he has accepted the “fatherhood” for the deeds committed by his followers.