Justice department representative Paul Setsetse openly criticised traditionally ”white” parties for not being more vocal in their condemnation of ”Wit Wolwe” leader Barend Strydom’s statements on the sentencing of De Wet Kritzinger this weekend.
”The silence by the white community and political parties with a white membership like the (opposition) Democratic Alliance (DA) and New National Party (NNP) is very interesting. One would expect them to come out against the behaviour of Strydom.
”If there is a perception from the broader community that these political parties reject his comments, people like Strydom may well find it more difficult to operate,” Setsetse said.
He added that he found Strydom’s comments ”disturbing and immoral” and ”insensitive and disrespectful towards the families of the victims”.
Strydom criticised the sentence handed down to 30-year-old Kritzinger, who boarded a bus in Pretoria on January 12 2000, and opened fire, killing the driver, two passengers and wounding four others, and then went into hiding for two years.
Said Setsetse: ”It is extremely disturbing that he (Strydom) is now seen as dedicating his time supporting people who kill…”
Shortly after Kritzinger was sentenced to three life terms in jail, Strydom told reporters: ”The sentence handed down is a hard, cruel and long sentence. Each day in jail for De Wet (Kritzinger) and every other Boer prisoner of war is a day too long.”
Strydom achieved notoriety as leader of the ”Wit Wolwe” (White Wolves), a white supremacist group, when he opened fire on black people at a square in central Pretoria in November 1988.
He was sentenced to death under the apartheid regime, but was released after serving just four years of his sentence after being given an amnesty during South Africa’s negotiations to a democratic transition.
South African police, who said they were not investigating Strydom’s right-wing activities, rubbished the rightwinger’s comments outside court on Friday.
”Strydom does not form part of our investigation,” said spokesperson Selby Bokaba.
”To us he’s a desperate man seeking a profile.” – Sapa-AFP