Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Loony 'chosen people' vow revenge (South Africa)
Mail & Guardian ^ | 30 November 2002 13:19 | Hannes de Wet and Mariette le Roux Hannes de Wet and Mariette le Roux

Posted on 11/30/2002 4:08:46 AM PST by Int

Loony 'chosen people' vow revenge

Hannes de Wet and Mariette le Roux Hannes de Wet and Mariette le Roux | Pretoria

30 November 2002 13:19

As police were rounding up suspected right-wing troublemakers in a countrywide swoop on Friday, a body purportedly representing such extremists threatened more violent attacks.

A statement issued under the logo of the Boeremag warned the festive season would see "revenge" attacks across the country.

The police were collating information on Friday afternoon from its "Operation Hopper" that included raids on 94 farms and other residences since 5am.

Those arrested so far included Gaye Derby-Lewis, wife of former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis who is serving a life sentence for the 1993 murder of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani. She is expected to appear in court on Monday.

The Boeremag said attacks prior and during the festive season would be part of what it dubbed Operation Elohiem of Revenge.

No explanation was given for the term "Elohiem". The word is Hebrew, and means "angels".

The organisation said its campaign would be stepped up because the ruling African National Congress refused to meet its demands.

"This operation entails countrywide revenge attacks prior to and during the false, worldly festive season," said a statement that reached Sapa by e-mail.

The Boeremag said its targets so far were chosen to ensure a minimum loss of life.

The organisation has been blamed for a recent rash of bomb blasts in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

It is also thought to have been behind a plot to overthrow the government, and 18 of its alleged members have been charged with treason and terrorism.

The Transvaal Agriculture Union and the Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging warned the state on Friday against causing unnecessary panic in its moves to counter right-wing extremism.

The Democratic Alliance and New National Party welcomed the raids.

In Friday's statement, the Boeremag said the first phase of its operation was mostly a show of force. This was aimed, among others, at highlighting its demands for the release of supporters arrested for the alleged coup plot.

The organisation hinted state buildings would be among the targets it had in mind for the next phase of its operation, saying: "We call on all private businesses to remove themselves from state buildings."

The statement added: "The Boeremag will accept no responsibility for damage to the property of compatriots in the vicinity of state facilities."

The Boeremag accepted responsibility for attacks so far, saying these were the beginning of the end of the ANC government and the "oppression of the Boer nation".

In an apparent referral to a bomb blast earlier this month at the Grand Central Airport building housing the police airwing in Midrand, the statement accused the police of hiding facts about damage caused.

It claimed six helicopters and a Pilatus aircraft were destroyed in the attack.

"Are they silent about these facts so that the public should keep on believing the lie that everything is under control under the ANC circus?"

The statement said members of the Boeremag were not rightwingers or ultra-rightwingers.

"We introduce ourselves as fighters of the Holy Father and the Boer nation."

The statement was peppered with Bible quotes and references to holy revenge on behalf of "the chosen people". It said it would not tolerate "heathen temples" or trading on a Sunday. No names or contact numbers were given in the statement, signed off: "Krygers van die Boerevolk" (Warriors of the Boer nation).

TAU security manager Boela Niemann said there was something paranoid about the way the police were conducting their operation.

He claimed police arrested several union members for "offences" such as being in possession of a firearm licensed in a brother's name, and keeping a flare.

"Some of our people have been charged with serious offences but if you take a closer look these police are being paranoid," Niemann said.

"We are starting to suspect that the state is creating a perception of a threat that does not really exist."

Niemann said about 10 TAU members were questioned or arrested in the police swoop which began at 5am on Friday. All were released on bail, he said.

AEB leader Cassie Aucamp said: "We make an urgent call on the government not to press the panic button in its efforts to defuse a suspected right-wing plot."

Reiterating his party's condemnation of violence, Aucamp said excessive and unqualified state violence could fuel the fire of those seeking justification for misguided terror and sabotage.

Democratic Alliance safety and security representative Paul Swart said he hoped "Operation Hopper" would result in the arrest and conviction of those behind the bombs blasts. NNP representative Adriaan van Jaarsveld said these people probably included pre-1994 right-wing supporters who opposed political change.

Police expected to release more information on the outcome of Friday's raids over the weekend. - Sapa


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: boers; southafrica
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-24 last
To: archy
Thanks much for the info...... My guess of 5 was not to shabby.
21 posted on 12/01/2002 2:53:54 PM PST by dennisw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Ohioan
Please enlighten me from my Western (are the Eastern ones any better?) University-induced stupor. Isn't a government that tells people where they should live & work, supports detention without trial and practises "affirmative action" for certain races (Mines and Works Act) a pretty messed-up way to run a society?
22 posted on 12/01/2002 8:42:31 PM PST by Int
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Righty1
I guess that you are saying that KR is a political savant? Then who is the puppet master? Does GW even know that he is a tool of the same gray conspirators that ruined his father's presidency? Like the Afrikaners I am having a hard time seeing any way out from here.

Karl Rove is an inadequate man, totally out of his depth in the job assigned to him. He is simply unaware of a myriad of considerations, for which his strategies obviously take no account. He only seems to be effective to people who also lack a broader perspective as to those ignored factors.

Political campaigns are won by those who are able to control the issues. When two relatively ineffective campaigns collide, people will not be even aware of this reality. Thus Rove's idiotic campaign for Bush--it almost completely destroyed the huge early lead that Bush had--still hung on to a victory, because the Gore campaign was simply a predictable rehash of the Left of Center campaigns that the Democrats had been running under Clinton--pandering to completely predictable media support for completely predictably defined interest groups.

But this is not a permanent condition. Nor should the Republican efforts to pander either to the same interest groups, or even their own traditionally defined interest groups, be written in stone. A really intelligent approach would be far more fluid. It would identify new issues for redefined interests, and would refocus even the present apparent issues and appeals, so as to maximize the appeal to voters undergoing a changing perspective.

If Rove even understands any part of this, I would be surprised. [I have deliberately, for the purpose of this brief note, ignored the moral claims of the American people and the American tradition, on any candidate. It is obvious that Rove is not aware of those either.]

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

23 posted on 12/02/2002 2:30:43 PM PST by Ohioan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Int
Please enlighten me from my Western (are the Eastern ones any better?) University-induced stupor. Isn't a government that tells people where they should live & work, supports detention without trial and practises "affirmative action" for certain races (Mines and Works Act) a pretty messed-up way to run a society?

Had you ever been to South Africa, prior to the fall of the Nationalist Government? When I was there for an extended trip (six weeeks), I was impressed by how little red tape there was for a young person, who wanted to start a business from scratch.

I think that the point that your education simply denied you, was that the different peoples within the borders of South Africa were not and never had been a single Nation. South Africa was a land of many Nations, and what "Apartheid" was all about, was not suppressing any of those Nations, but allowing them to preserve their respective heritages as separate Nations, without continuing the centralized control that had been a remnant of the Colonial system. Apartheid was never an accomplished result, but a work in progress, intended to allow each of the respective peoples control of their own affairs, their own areas, and their own cultures.

All over Africa, not just in countries with White and Black, Brown and Yellow peoples coming together, you will find today, Black (Negro) tribal groups suppressing and even massacring other Black tribal groups, unfortunate enough to be out of power and favor. This goes on not despite the theories of so-called "Liberals" in the West, but precisely because of the brutal application of those theories in the foreign policies of the great powers. Those people who were murdered in Rwanda, Nigeria, the Congo, Angola, etc., to mention but a few Black on Black instances, were murdered because of the same vicious Socialist mindset that attacked South Africa. (For the American Left's sickening role in all of this, see An American Foreign Policy.

William Flax

24 posted on 12/02/2002 2:48:40 PM PST by Ohioan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-24 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson