Police investigating right-wing activities in the country on Saturday refused to disclose further information on the second phase of Operation Hopper — aimed at enforcing the Arms and Ammunitions Act.
Senior Superintendent Selby Bokaba said that the operation would continue throughout the weekend and that it was decided that information would only be released on Monday.
”The investigation is continuing over the weekend. It will come to an end on Sunday evening. We are not going to release the information in drips and drabs — on Monday we will have an update,” he said.
On Friday, police began the second phase of the operation with a raid on several homes belonging to the leaders of right-wing organisations.
They included ”Wit Wolf” Barend Strydom, SA League of Ex-Police, Soldiers and Officials (Sapso) chairman Dries Kriel, and Willem Hurter — named in court in a right-wing plot to assassinate President Thabo Mbeki.
The home of former Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging secretary Piet ”Skiet” Rudolph was also believed to have been targeted, but he could not be reached for confirmation.
The Uniondale, Western Cape farm of Naomi Kruizinga, previously raided in the search for alleged Pretoria bus killer De Wet Kritzinger, was also searched on Friday. Kritzinger is charged with shooting dead three black South Africans on a bus in Pretoria in 2000.
In a statement left on his cellphone’s answering service, Strydom said police visited his home just after 5am with a warrant.
”They were looking for six people, plans to make bombs, and related articles. They seized from me a document entitled: ‘State terrorism and crimes against the boerevolk’. They also took tapes and videos of a historical and political nature.”
The message said police also raided the homes of other ”boerevolksgenote” (boer compatriots).
”I was not arrested and no case has been opened against me as far as I am aware.”
Police confirmed they were raiding 43 properties countrywide on Friday.
The raids started at 5am and focused on contraventions of the Arms and Ammunition Act, representative Director Sally de Beer said.
She could not say how many people had been arrested and would not name any of them. Senior Superintendent Selby Bokaba said the raids had nothing to do with the police’s probe into the far-right.
The action was termed Operation Hopper II, a continuation of last week’s Operation Hopper I — which police at the time said formed part of their probe into the activities of the right-wing Boeremag organisation.
Asked why the operation had the same name if rightwingers were not the targets, Bokaba said: ”It may be a coincidence.”
Sapso, which recently gave its public backing to the Boeremag, said the homes of several of its members were raided.
Kriel said police searched his house in Christiana in the North West, as well as those of Sapso national commander Gustav Styles in Viljoenskroon in the Free State, and Hurter, its national intelligence commander, in Bloemfontein.
The raids did nothing but ”drive people deeper into the ground and worsen relationships in the country”, Kriel said.
”After all, we are all old hands — former police members and soldiers. We would not be so stupid to keep such things at our homes.”
He warned the league’s members were left with no choice but to organise themselves into underground cells since the government refused to address their concerns.
These included the release of whites jailed for crimes committed under the apartheid government.
The league would hold an emergency meeting on Friday evening, where an order would be given for all name lists to be burnt ”before we go underground,” Kriel said.
Asked what their aim would be, he said: ”They must just do what their hands find to do.”
The Conservative Party (CP) accused the police of victimising and humiliating Afrikaners. It expressed disgust at the questioning and search of Werner Weber, CP executive member and chairman of the Agricultural Employers’ Organisation.
”The investigation of Mr Weber was but one of several such cases in the past four weeks,” CP leader Ferdi Hartzenberg said in a statement.
The action was unfounded and Weber could not be linked in any way to illegal activities, he added.
”It is clear the SA Police Service is groping around in the dark instead of maintaining law and order.”
Kruizinga said police in a helicopter landed on their farm shortly before 5am with a search warrant. They searched through all documents and the safe before leaving with her computer’s hard drive.
”It contains only children’s games and educational programmes,” she said.
Kruizinga said she and her husband belonged to no political party or church. They did, however, subscribe to the Israel Vision doctrine, known for its white extremist views.
”I believe we are being targeted because we are conservative in our religious and political views.”
The family’s lawyers were considering possible legal steps against the police, said Kruizinga.
In Operation Hopper I last Friday, 94 farms and other places of residence were raided — resulting in the arrests of 12 people. Various items, including 64 illegal firearms, explosives, and documents were seized.
The Boeremag has claimed responsibility for the bombings in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and threatened more violence over the festive season.
It is also suspected of involvement in a plot to overthrow the government, with 18 of its alleged members set to stand trial on charges of treason and terrorism next year. – Sapa