A witness in the Boeremag treason trial described on Thursday preparations for a coup attempt, including renting cars for car bombs, stockpiling ammunition and making petrol bombs with beer bottles and government-issue condoms.
Former Bela-Bela farmer Deon Crous, the state’s fourth witness, testified in detail about preparations before a date in September 2002 set aside for an operation to create chaos in the country.
He was never sure exactly what the operation would entail and did not ask too many questions, but was satisfied to follow his leader and fellow commando member Herman van Rooyen.
Crous said the accused Wilhelm Pretorius rented cars at Johannesburg International airport, purportedly to transport tourists. They had problems because the car-hire company wanted to give them minibuses instead of cars. He understood that bombs would be planted in the rented cars.
Crous and others drove some of the cars to a shopping centre in Pretoria, where they left them. On his way home, he bought more than 700 shotgun rounds, telling the salesperson they used them ”to shoot pigs” on the farm.
Later, Crous and others, including several of the accused, gathered at a farm, where he saw someone making time switches for bombs, using alarm clocks mounted on pieces of wood.
Crous, the accused Herman van Rooyen’s brother Alan, and another man, made a large number of petrol bombs, using Black Label beer bottles, petrol and government-issue condoms.
Other preparations included counting ammunition and firearms and loading arms and equipment on to a large truck.
Alleged Boeremag leader Tom Vorster addressed the gathering, telling them they were the top men in South Africa because they were prepared to do something for their country. He said their bank deposits would be worth nothing the next day and told them they were going to ”do targets”, which Crous understood to mean planting car bombs.
The accused Dirk Hanekom introduced himself as the chief of staff and spoke about his experience in waging war. Another accused, Vis Visagie, said a prayer.
A convey, including the truck, an ambulance, several bakkies and even a motor home, left the farm in the early hours of the morning.
He also noticed a bakkie carrying several green containers. Someone said if ”those things” (the containers) went off, all of them would be dead, but when the accused Kobus Pretorius opened one of the containers, he only saw biltong and dry wors inside. He did not know what was in the other containers.
Crous said he once asked Tom Vorster about their targets, to which Vorster replied that a bomb would explode at the Johannesburg airport. Crous pleaded with Vorster to change the plan, as his brother would have been at the airport that day and Vorster replied that he would see what he could do.
Vorster also talked about taking over a military base.
The convoy stopped and eventually turned back after Vorster told them he had received word there was a traitor in the Free State. Vorster wanted to carry on, but others were against it and they eventually flipped a coin to decide.
Crous said some of the ammunition and other equipment was unloaded from the truck and hidden in bushes. He later heard that it had been buried.
The petrol bombs were also destroyed by throwing them out of a moving bakkie one by one.
Crous will continue with his evidence on Monday.
Accused protest move to communal cells
Fourteen of the accused in custody at present were adamant on Thursday they will go ahead with an urgent application on Friday to stop their removal from individual cells at Pretoria’s local prison into communal cells.
They said in court papers they have been threatened with violence and sodomy and are victimised daily by fellow prisoners and even warders because of the political nature of the charges against them and the negative publicity they receive.
They fear not only for their safety, but also the safety of the documents they use to prepare for their trial if they are moved into communal cells. They said they have been told that they would no longer be able to use the electronic equipment they have used so far to keep track of the complex trial, adding that their right to a fair trial would be compromised.
One of the accused, Adriaan van Wyk, said in an affidavit he had to receive tetanus injections and anti-retrovirals after being attacked and bitten by a fellow prisoner while walking in the yard.
He said he is deeply concerned about death threats from black prisoners.
Van Wyk said prison authorities seemed unconcerned about the threats and told him they were not concerned about court orders, because the judges could not do anything to them. — Sapa