Three right-wingers who were jailed for plotting to blow up the Vaal Dam were granted bail in the Bloemfontein Regional Court on Tuesday.
Their release is pending the outcome of an appeal against their conviction and sentences for sabotage and illegal possession of ammunition.
Leon Peacock, Hercules Viljoen, and Alan Rautenbach were imprisoned in May.
Rautenbach has to serve an effective two years in prison and his two co-accused five years each.
Regional court president WA de Klerk released Peacock and Viljoen on Tuesday on bail of R2000 and Rautenbach on R1000 bail.
Their lawyer, Bernard Bantjes, read out in court affidavits by the trio, as well as one by Peacock’s wife, Ilda. According to these they had sworn off their ”so-called”
ideologies and they had no interest in politics or extremist movements any more.
They asked to be released on bail to earn enough money for proper legal representation during their appeal.
Mrs Peacock said she, her three young children and her parents were living in desperate conditions on a smallholding near Bloemfontein. Both parents were aged and ailing. She could not resume her work as a teacher because she had to look after her children and parents. The eldest child, a 14-year-old boy, had to be fed and transported to school by ”strangers” because they did not have the necessary means to do so.
Peacock undertook to earn an income through selling his artworks if he should be released on bail. He handed in examples of his sketches in court.
The three men have been in custody since their arrest in March 2002.
During their trial regular mention was made of their beliefs in the prophesies of the late Afrikaner prophets Siener van Rensburg and Johanna Brand. – Sapa