Some of the Boeremag treason-trial accused feel so aggrieved about media reports on their trial that on Monday they threatened to apply for an order to have journalists barred from court.
Defence counsel Piet Pistorius and Paul Kruger, who represent several of the accused, told Judge Eben Jordaan their clients feel deeply aggrieved by an Afrikaans radio talk show on radiosondergrense on Friday afternoon in which they claim they were ridiculed.
The programme centred on the trial and especially reports that the Boeremag allegedly planned to use the Armscor building in Pretoria as a ”breeding facility” to create a new nation and had planned to kill Afrikaans comedian Casper de Vries.
The judge pointed out that state witness Henk van Zyl had never testified that it was the Boeremag’s plan.
What Van Zyl had in fact testified, was that alleged Boeremag leader Tom Vorster had said during a conversation in a car that he would like to have a building like the Armscor building to keep a bunch of women so that they could be inseminated with the sperm of Boeremag men to create a new nation.
Later during the conversation Van Zyl told Vorster he thought they should kill De Vries because he was not on the right path.
Pistorius said as the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is ”an extension of the ANC/SACP [African National Congress/South African Communist Party] government”, it is to be expected that it will follow a certain policy and will make a mockery of the Boeremag accused.
He said objective reporting had clearly flown out of the window during Friday’s radio programme. This type of programme does not aid the administration of justice in this country.
Pistorius complained bitterly that journalists tend to report what is sensational in the trial, but do not report about aspects that are put into perspective during cross-examination of witnesses.
Pistorius has himself been a victim of inaccurate reporting, when his name was linked to certain statements about a judge.
He was forced to defend himself when a charge was laid against him with the Bar Council.
He said his clients are considering instituting a defamation action against the SABC and will consider obtaining an interdict to bar journalists from the trial.
Kruger said he is ”shocked about the irresponsibility with which lies were being sent into the world”.
He said it appears as if every Tom, Dick and Harry at the SABC put their own interpretation on the reports of the SABC journalists in court.
Two of the accused on Monday again complained about their treatment at the hands of the Department of Correctional Services and the police.
Adriaan van Wyk requested not to be transported in handcuffs, as cuts on his wrists sustained during previous transportation have become infected. Vorster complained that he is not allowed contact visits with his wife and that staff at Pretoria’s local prison had interrupted his prayer meeting with his wife on Sunday.
The prosecution in turn complained that the court record is being burdened with small complaints, while counsel has been appointed specifically to deal with these issues.
The trial continues. — Sapa