Global Africa Links to Race War in South Africa & the Assassination of Chris Hani (1993)

9 Pages·1993·2.6 MB·English

by  Jacques Pauw

South Africa's extreme racists, who number
in the hundreds of thousands, are armed to the
teeth. Their efforts to rip out the heart of the
already fragile negotiating process may plunge
the country into war and anarchy. Driven by
their hatred for blacks, whom they still call
"kaffirs," and by their abhorrence for "white
traitors and sellouts," many have joined com-
mando units andunderglound cells. They have
support from international anti- communist and
neo-Nazi organizations in Europe andthe U'S'
including the Heritage Foundation, the Interna-
tional Freedom Foundation, the Moonies, and
the World Anti-Communist lrague.
That these right-wing zealots are both ser-
ious and violent was brought home by the re-
cent assassination of Chris Hani. The South
African Communist Party (SACP) secretary-
general was a hero to millions, South Afiica's
second most powerful leader after Nelson
Mandela, and an important figure in the nego-
tiations. On April 10, Polish-born Janus Walus,
a member of a secret right-wing cell, shot Hani
as he returned to his Boksburg, Johannesburg
home after buying a newspaper. As he lay dead
in a pool of blood, rightwingers th,roughout the
country celebrated his murder.
RACE WAR IN During the week that followed, South Af-
lica's peace Process teetered on a knife's edge'
Armed thugs fiom the white supremacist Afri-
kaner Resistance Movement (AWB, Afrikaner
AFRICA
SOUTH Weerstandsbew e ging) rampaged through local
townships. They fired guns fiom pickup trucks,
scattering frightened residents, and taunting,
"Your king is dead."r
AWB leader Eugene TerreBlanche fanned
flames that nearly exploded into war by boast-
ing that if Hani had not already been murdered
he- would have wanted to have done the job
himself.2 Extremist leaders warmly andpublic-
ly congratulated Hani's accused assassin,
hailed his "bravery," and dubbed him a true "volks-en oolog-
Pauw
Jacques sheld' (national war hero).
ANi leaders called for reconciliation and calm, as hundreds
The South African Right now understands: it cannot en- ofthousands ofblacks took to the streets in mourning and anger'
brce white supremacy with a ballot box; it will never see an Mobs looted shops, bumed cars and houses, and shouted racially
rll-white election again. An intense negotiating process is charged remarkJat frightened whites. Once again South Africa
row going on between F.W. de Klerk's National Party anarchy and the peace process continued despite calls
"r*foa
government and the Afiican National Congress (ANC) over from within radical black quarters for its suspension'
'he shape of post-apartheid South Africa. The process will
undoubtedly endorse one-person, one-vote elections for as Jacques Pauw is a South African investigative re?orter at The Star (lolan-
early as Spring 1994, thereby ensuring black majority rule' nw"e.ueukilnv"'fi. afonrdm aeur thaossr isotaf nItn etdheit oHr eoaf rVt royfe tWhee eWl<hbolarde :( aTnh ein dSetoperyn doefnAt pAafrritkhaean*'ss
With no hope of winning significant support in an open b" "iin'iqroat. He has written extensively on the ri-ghtwing
election, even among the minority white community, the *t;i;r;.6 G; "A rF" ialAi.P-lIiM",m"'fp,"aocot f"vais uaaldsd rAe\sYs Bb yl eFirodreeri gEnu gMeninei sTteerrPreiBkBlaontchhae, s1ta9n8d6s.
Rmiiglithatr'sy fuapnraistiicn gm aesm tbheer so nalyre s ionlcurteioans.ingly inclined to see a Zt.. sSroiduatfry'A lfitzi"reni (bJroohaadncnaessbtiunrgg-),G rMpoarya t9io, n1,9 9A3p' r.il. 1. ^9' -1 ^993'
Number 45
4 CovertAction
t
Right Enters New Phase voice is echoed by many other fanatics who want to maintain
With time running out, the right-wing movement to main- white rule at any cost, including turning South Africa into a
tain white supremacy and derail the transition to maj ority rule bloodbath.
has entered a new phase of resistance and mobilization. Dr. When the Right launches its threatened large-scale armed
Wim Booyse, a political analyst andprobably South Afiica's resistance, the government will haveto activate the full might
foremost expert on the right- ofthe security forces against
wing, believes change may it. While there is as yet no
lead to widespread violent hard evidence of plans for
resistance against a future, fomenting either a right-
democratically elected gov- wing uprising or a coup
ernment. "I sense a desperate d'etat from within the
security forces, the Right
attemfl among rightwingers,"
said Booyse, "that they have believes that when forced to
to mobilize before the elec- choose sides, many soldiers
tion campaign starts. They and police w-ill not back the
if
believe they can derail the government.b Many, not
whole campaign and make it most, whites within the po-
impossible for South #ti* lice and the powerful mili-
to have fair elections."' tary structures, such as
Although the Right has Military Intelligence, sup-
long expected the signal for port the Conservative Party
that battle to be the holding of and the Right. For decades,
non-racial elections, Booyse these whites have been par-
believ es that the assassination tisans in a war in which the
of Chris Hani may have given ANC, the Communist Party,
the movement new impetus and other black organiza-
and brought the "plan of ac- tions were the enemy. They
tion" forward. fear that all ofthe privileges
A short time later, Com- they hold by virtue of race
munist Party Chair Joe Slovo are about to end and that the
was targeted. I was told by a white government is selling
source within the rightwing lhem out through the nego-
of a plot to assassinate him. tiating process. As the level
Although the police had been of racism rises daily, so, too,
informed of the scheme near- does the level of violence.
ly a week before the slated
killing, they had never \Marned Slovo and I was the first to The Third War lor Freedom
tell him to take the necessary precautions. Three years ago, a banner at the Conservative Party rally
These assassination plots are among many clear indica- proclaimed: "The right-wing tiger is awakening!" At the
tions that rightwingers are mobilizing their underground same event, Conservative leader Andries Treurnicht an-
structures to torpedo the process iaking South Africa to nounced the start of the "Third War of Freedom,"T (the first
democracy and majority rule. Dozens of right-wing hit lists two having been fought by the Boers against the British
are circulating that include the names of negotiators and toward the end of the L9th century).
"whitetraitors" such as President F.W de Klerk; ANC leaders For a while, there was much sound and fury but no action,
including Nelson Mandela, Cyril Ramaphosa and Thabo and the assassination threats were laughed off as "bully-boy
Mbeki; and communist leaders Ronnie Kassrils and Slovo. wartalk." After all, the myth of the mighty Afrikaner soldier
Previously unknown gangs of fascist thugs such as the Boer was one of South Africa's great fallacies. Afrikaners had lost
Republican Army and the Israelite Liberation Army have virtually every war they fought in this century. Secondly, in
issue,l "execution certificates. "4 light of the Afrikaner history of internal discord and rivalry,
"The day a one man, one vote is called, it's war," threat- as myriad groups vied for baasskap (supremacy), prospects
ened Andrew Ford, leader of the Boer Resistance Movement, for coordinated and effective action seemed remote. And
which claims an army of thousands ready for battle.S His most importantly, despite white fears of nationalization,
3. Author's interview with Wim Booyse, Apil 22,193.
4. Reeld (Johannesburg), tr{ay 4, 19y3. 6. Booyse interview, op. cit.
5. Sunday lazes, April 25,1993. 7 . Weekb Mail @xcom, Transvaal), April 2, 1992.
Summer 1993 CovertAction 5
I
with "mother organizations" such as AWB or the
Conservative Party. The assassination of Hani was
probably planned from within one of these cells.10
Afrikaner Homeland Uber Alles
The aboveground manifestations of this renewal
include bold gestures of defiance. On May 6,'l'993,
an estimated 10,000 khaki-clad farmers vented their
anger in the historic town of Potchefstroom in the
Western Transvaal. They came in luxury cars, four-
wheel drives, pickups, and buses to send a message
to the world: We will not live under aTJANC govern-
ment. We will take up arms and fight.rr
The farmers bayed for blood and shouted fury at
the government. "Shoot him! Get rid of the traitor!"
they screamed about Deputy Minister of Agriculture
Tobie Meyer. When told that the ministers of justice,
defense, and law and order (police) had declined
invitations to attend, they jeered. Members of the
AWB most of whom openly wore holstered guns
-
on their hips called for war and vowed that the
-
only way to solve their problems was to shoot it out.
The meeting was different from previous right-
wing rallies in one important way: the presence of
former Chief of the South African Defense Force
General Constand Viljoen. The legendary soldier,
who fought in Angola and Namibia, received a stand-
ing ovation as he called for the suspension of negotia-
tions to remedy the country's violence. According to
communism, and black revenge, it appeared likely that, given Viljoen, ceding joint control of the security forces before
the ANC's record of peace and reconciliation, whites would ratifying a new constitution was "crass stupidity" and would
keep their jobs, property, and probably even their strangle- assure that those forces fell under "communist" control.'"
hold on the economy. Fear and hatred, howevet, have driven In the past, the Afrikaner nation has often turned to its
some racist whites to risk all on a mad military campaign. generals in time of crisis.13 This time, although the farmers
Recently, the Right seems both more able and more will- pleaded with him to lead the Boer Nation in their freedom
ing to plunge the country into all-out civil war. "There is war against black majority rule, Viljoen did not directly
movement in the rightwing," Booyse warned last year. respond. His very presence, however, was highly significant.
"Watch out, they are mobilizing. Something is going to Viljoen is a key figure in the recently-formed Committee
happen." He was right, the tiger is ready to strike. Chris Hani of Generals, which aims to unify the Right and pave the way
is dead; the organized drive to greater unity on the Right is for an independent Afrikaner nation (Boer State). The generals
progressing; and a handful of former police and army ge- have sent documents to all major parties on the Right, plead-
nerals recently joined the Right ranks and assumed leader- ing for support. So far, the AWB - the largest group o,f
ship positions. organized paramilitary racists - has not committed itself'^-
Until a year ago, there were at least 186 identifiable Another key man in the drive for right-wing unity is
right-wing groups ranging fiom the popular Conservative former chief of military intelligence, General Tienie Groene-
Party-which got more than 30 percent of the votes in the wald. Afrikaner nationalists, he says, believe in and will
L989 general election-to small, isolated cells of fanatics exercise the right to self-protection. They will pursue the
plotting mayhem and destruction.8 quest for an Afrikaner homeland by peaceful means, but will
Now the number is down to 20, but, says Booyse, tather use "mass action and passive resistance" if necessary, and
than indicating a decline, the count demonstrates success in will consider a military option if the constitutional route is
organizing and mobilizing, and in settling old disputes that
had prevented unity.v The new model is a small unnamed cell
t0, rbid.
which is harder to detect and infiltrate, and has no direct link 11. The author attended the meeting.
12. Weekly Mail, May 7 , t993; and The Star (lohannesburg), May 7 ' 1993.
13 . Beeld, lvlay 7 , L993 .
8. Interview with Booyse, op. cit 14. Weekly Uiit, trlay 7 , L993; South African Broadcasting Corporation,
9. tbid May 8, 1993.
Number45
6 CovertAction
bthcTtsshhlaotohterervmcaSr ayeofknoei t-euggfhar tdgmewn-by.ah ai:aivfb tGnietthuceihd ron adeoeonoifnven fe pyeCnteolle nleydooftn wh, nwca ecta oansh" elur rdWoermiirn gntitehrhehesd asdi tdeAtt,s e heBf Sam rddeioPneok.ia orenduaGx ioyt neEihdrmpsdeoenrle eaeirrgzh,n 'wn lseiei rses n iAxA hwgp rcfre-ihraienslipmulctspdo -sasbwyre utinle"vadair'dsneike^tc- yigf' nkiGfn i o ngaeoorrv ons rrcoggadu ol aahv phmnenni os(ompiizzm Cawcaaeoetuttn riislriwooatora nnenetgisssndnl)'-'t'' BRtdtc2thhhoaeu3eeenend C b e rtUoc Ulerxiloo.avpStvnufrneho. ei ncW t-lmykDtibirrn eaeyies(M ss,sOot ret oDebraWrddvrdnye neeHoed-r rItmbr Ge tr Ltayrwoeoo5i -t naLnaif,ls0 altetgts t 0uhewto i0isn(e -fiU CcF s tEShhB onon peouiomttg uinheeaSlmdtediryhsoa e uh"uNtKA dTn-tiashoi fihnsarp ntiigiAtncr'eo dd rafanLiuro m ki') WecmT( ipnaRalhoea)ggnu,oraru o rmmdeoartuae enfoe(gn prWdsFmht r aPetr abAeho)si e'eeCimle serwdtns Le Roth" i)manSa'mie tc lbihpplmvh" eour'eo eorob hv sboltoaeii"-i-sfrf-
Ul-tt,"t io.ug influence in multiparty talks on the fu- lizing British and foreign rightwingers''-
"tunrae .16 Cosag rePresents a new
phenomenon in South African
politics-black and white organiza-
iions standing arm-in-arm against an
ANC-led government. It joins two
Afrikaner-based parties-the Conser-
vative Party and the Afrikaner Volks-
unie (AYlJlas well as Mangosuthu
Buthelezi's Zulu-based Inkatha
Freedom Party, and the homeland gov-
ernments of Bophuthatswana and Cis-
kei. According to the general, Cosag
rests on four "ethnic pillars": Afrikan-
ers, Zulus, Tswanas, and Xhosas'
A pact between the Right and In-
katha is particularly ominous' The
white Right is marked bY extremism
and firepower, Inkatha by its ability to
stoke violence and derail the negotia-
tions process. Inkatha's lrnpis and the
Right's fanatics have bridged a great
abyss of mutual mistrust and hatred
with a shared readiness to kill those
who oDpose them.17
Mounted soldier of the Right at Johannesburg rally, 1993'
lnternatlonal Fascist Links
etotaWSwtbhrwx foemoea poIonu TcsenrSere bi hdl akomocaoaleili:uetil-nfda ssbftn agadhAtdoiPcsrr si ierpt .naAiacei om oagri sfOsofnlmrrt iiptisanth fuc hile t mgieaatocttemshhun n aeiiieearbdddn tne tiWe rec o dtesirr fgM no oextSChhimsotalnol rte.olsf ewa evi stivwnmJsheanienedate gem ii sgncr s dhemD uC eata fslilnrosoaCesal oi rtnWatlrchp glnibs,nvlraa aotaeyice,isrnsnln re-tul tev iLddyhszHso ae e e a,lfttoiao prnwtihttevipnhfehokee ieieenssni' ssn d sAP wa w a'ecracafolinnirescgtrirthdsuatk hlyda sract:t hsewh -eneswdfieisvoleid ln ii randrneacmw seegt osNineonio nafcr-tneaetis feea attsm, wishi sointnG,eachon i'v imnharaasieksegttyl- acKgInRoRntoao oefodtmntW 'hprAob GeieumzLrecAa ibauaorfuc lCottaiutainocoiortnIs ni ere-ns a d Ddfmm msAnr i'onb aTAm.aeS nrg maluiNFoaetn i bbutow'rg osoietquuci ahf nrcntai"st nshghidWAn o,se ewe nfoWtd h droeaibnien cigrltiAoa,e'tnaeei etso Cdhnt Mrthk1 enaH L,se9araal qerea6Irtti unnhipsi6noouas re d nnedbtsiNhSd"a srqyee leeael ue dpt nln fah apeatedthedpardarnoee -taettvidlR ehvearaLritem icansygles tdt 'ahAia"-qinDen't"tlgluoe e are uasA rnErrrsotrecdbtmrlho ou'sfy uiSr opgn,-Witm saLnsgh,a tle lgvbeAsgnewao 'r o dC iAedfatid ssolNLlgMlSfi araa ama'o2w tianishznu1ooajzie sotrsssaaht-rrt't
DHearnbilys- Lmeuwridse. r Aanlld t harree ein h acuvset oodfyfi.c Aiacllcyo rbdeinegn tcoh aprogleicde ,w tihthe lseiaast t Upnariftiltya stipoonn sCorheudr cbhy Ranedv ' isS uknn Mowynu ntgo Mhaovoen 'fsin caonncterodv eerx--
weapon that killed Hani was part of a consignment of South
African Defence Force weapons stolen by the fanatic al Orde' 211809... BBWeeAeelClL{ LAA hPParrsiill b21e07e,, n11 99e99x33p..osed in: Jon lre Anderson and Scott Anderson'
Insi-de'the'Liigue (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1986); andCovertAction' Number
1Lti65 lTibihiide' . cSotaUr,n Moa"eY 6C'o 1m9m93is.sion Report (1992)blamed Inkatha as one of the 2*5 ()Wr.i'ni"terrf 1r9r8f6*)i,d P*P". ,5 io0';.'W 5c2to- 3unt.t "I*st uthael rIhneteomloagtvio, nJaol hFarneneedsobmu rgF'o 1uened3a'tion?" re-
main protagonists of violence. ';il-;;;;;iliiiui"
CovertAction 7
Summer 1993
tremist organizations and right-wing guerrilla movements Western Goals
throughout the world. The Moonies also fund the neo-fascist In addition to his role as WACL representative, Derby-
French National Front headed by Jean-Marie Le P-en, with Lewis has links with extremist elements in British conserva-
whom Derby-Lewis has met on various occasions.22 tive politics through Western Goals. In May 1985, Western
WACI-s activities in South Africa can be traced back to Goals (U.K.) was founded as the British section of the U.S.
the 1960s when it was headed by Ivor Benson chief press Western Goals Foundation and affiliated to WACL.26 Its
-
censor under Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith. Various self-described mission was preservation of Western values
South African academics, church leaders, and politicians and European culture. It is opposed to "communism,
have been linked to the WACL.'- In 1990, it changed its name liberalism, internationalism, and the multi-cultural
to the World League for Freedom and Democracy. society."27 ln 1992, Derby-Irwis succeeded Salvadoran
The U.S. chapter, the Council for World Freedom (uscwr), death sq'uad leader D'Aubuisson as Weslern Goals's presi-
has been headed by General John K. Singlaub (ret.), a leading dent.28
advocate of the "Low Intensity Conflict Strategy." In the Western Goals actively promotes far-Right leaders and
1980s, President Ronald Reagan informally assigned him to causes. In June 1989, when Andries Treurnicht and Derby-
implement the Reagan doctrine of overt and covert interven- Lewis visited Europe, Western Goals handled the public
tion in key Third World trouble spots. Under Singlaub, WACL relations. It has served as unofficial international ambassador
funded UNITA in Angola, Renamo in Mozambique, the Con- for the South African Conservative Party to Germany, the
tras in Nicaragua, and other right-wing rebel movements. He French National Front, and the Salvadoran eneNn Party.29 Its
helped coordinate these fund-raising efforts with organiza- support for extremists extends beyond political and financial
tions such as the Unification Church, the Cluistian Broadcasting backing to include military training. In 1992, Western Goals
Network and bogus charities such as Citizens for Ameiica launched a program to arm and train white South African
under New York entrepreneur-politician Lew Lehrman.24 civilians in preparation for a race war. Carrie d out by soldiers
Also affiliated with the WACL is the International from the British Army, ex-Rhodesian forces, and the South
Freedom Foundation (IFF), which has played an important African Defence Force, the training was under the "overall
role in trying to discredit the ANC and promoting Inkatha. direction" of Derby-Lewis, who is a former Citizen Force
lieutenant-colonel. British special forces experts from the
Special Air Services regiment have been in South Africa
lnkatha's impis and the Hight's several times, training white commandos in close quarters
combat, firearms use, and survival techniques. Special forces
fanatics have bridged a great operatives from other countries, including Russian Speqlaz
soldiers, have also conducted trainings in South Afiica.ru
abyss of mutual mistrust and Derby-Lewis'right-wing links span both the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. He is a member of the powerful conservative
hatred with a shared readiness Washington-based Heritage Foundation, which funneled
financial aid to the Nicaraguan Contras and provided the
to kill those who oppose them. blueprint for the rise of the Right under Reagan." His name
is on the mailing list of the World Apartheid Movement
(WAM), which is known to have close contact with such
extremist organizations as the Australian Nationalists Move-
The IFF has even sponsored its own "independent commis- menl, L'Empire Invisible, the International White Power Net-
sion of inquiry" into alleged torture in ANC camps. Its South work in Germany, the SS-Action Group in the U.S., and the
African director, Russell Crystal, has been exposed as a Church of the Creator.'"
South African Security Police agent.
Founded in July 1985 by Jack Abramoff, the Washington-
and Johannesburg-based IFF describes itself as a non-profit
26. Western Goals was founded in the U.S. by Rep. Larry McDonald in
educational body dedicated to the promotion and defense of 1979. Texas millionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt backed the organization and
democracy and human rights. Not so, according to Johannes- Singlaub was one of its patrons. (WeeWy Mail April 2, 1993.)
27. Western Goals press release (undated); and Marishane, op. cit
burg-based Institute for Contextual Theology researcher Jeff 28.The Star, Apil 23, 1993. The 1993 Salvadoran Truth Commission
Marishane: "Aclose inspection of the IFF reveals it as deeply confirmed lhat D'Aubuisson had headed death squads guilty of numerous
involved in the resurgence and sEead of neo-fascism both atrocities, including the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. (Julia
Preston, "War Report Accuses Salvadorarx," Washington Posr, March 1.5,
inside and outside South Africa."" 1993, p. 13.)
29.Maislane, op. cit.
3O. Weekly Mail, ApilZ3,1993.
22. Ibid. 31. The Star, April 19, 1993; See testimony by Joe Fernandez (ata "Tomas
23. Ibid. Castillo," former CIA Station Chief in C-osta Rica), Joint Select Committee
24. Ibid.; Weekly Mail, April 23, 1993. Hearing on Select Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition,
25. Marishang op. cit.; and David Ivoq "Touting for South Africa: Interna- pp. L7o-7 3, 183-84, 191.
tional Freedom Foundation," Coverdcrio4 Number 31 (Winter 1989) , pp. 6244. 32. Weekly Mail, Apil23,1993.
8 CovertAction Number 45
The World Apartheid Movement has always been popular Much of that fight went underground after a three-year
in South Africa among neo-Nazis and white foreigners, espe- police campaign against the Right netted 136 leaders and
cially Eastern European anticommunist zealots. As of 1992, supporters.-- Using cells like the one which spawned the
it had a 4,000-name mailing list. Its military wing offers Hani murder, the Right has regrouped. Without names or
training to rightwingers. Recently, however, WAM lost sup- constitutions, these cells keep low profiles and exercise greal
port after its leader, neo-Nazi fanatic Koos Vermuelen, came caution in accepting members. Their secrecy has impeded
under suspicion by the Right of being a police agent. Ver- authorities'ability to expose members, discover hit squads,
muelen gained notoriety from annual birthday celebrations and stop plans foi violence.ao Most members of this under-
for Hitler on his fort-like farm outside Pretori;.33 ground network are also members of the Conservative Party
andthe AWB.
Church o, the Creator Arguing that the AWB is a "cultural" organization, the
There is a long history of international support for right- Conservative Party allows its members to belong. The AWB,
wing violence as a tactic in South Africa's race war. in turn, interacts with rival ultraright organizations, shares
In November 1997, two University of Pretoria students, members with some of them, and provides commando train-
Jurgen Matthew White and Johannes Jurgens Grobbelaar, ing.al The Afrikaner Resistance Movement remains by far
diecl in a shootout with police in the Kalahari desert. Police the biggest and probably most dangerous paramilitary or-
believed that the two men, linked to murder, were heading ganization. Although AWB leader Eugene TerreBlanche
for a secret desert hideout.34 They were found with a cache claims more than 40,000 men under arms, the commandos
of machine guns, hand grenades, and mortars, as well as a have no more than 5,000 members.42
large quantity of neo-Nazi literature and an address list of TerreBlanche's call for his followers to arm themselves
international contacts in the neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, and skin- and prepare for military action has been enthusiastically
head movements in Europe, Scandinavia, and the U.S.35 The embraced. "TerreBlanche can depend on us to fight shoulder
two were members of the neo-fascist Afrikaner National
Socialists, the World Apartheid Movement, and the Church
of the Creator.
l'he South African Church of the Creator was founded in Afrikaners are 8% of South Africa's population
1986 and is directly affiliated to the church's home office in of 38 million; there is no economically viable
the U.S. There was evidence that Grobbelaar had been in area v/here they have a maiority,
direct touch with Ben Klassen, the organization,s leader, or Three million out of South Africa's 5 million
primus dominus, in the U.S. The Church of the Creator whites are Africaners.
advocates the total extermination of Jews and blacks, groups
it calls the "mud races."36 The vast majority of Afrikaners are armed;
almost alladult males have had militarytrain-
The Conservative Party and the AWB ing; hundreds of thousands serve as reser-
Although the Conservative Party officially participates in vists; and tens of thousands are in right-wing
the negotiations, it continues to act as an umbrella for the far vigilante groups.
Right. With South Africa's first non-racial election less than Thirly million blacks possess only 15 % of land.
a year away - and black majority rule the certain outcome
- the desperation of the extremists increases. Their ugly 80% of Afrikaners doubt Mandela's sincerity.
mood was demonstrated recently by a Conservative member Parrl Taylor, "Afrikaners' New Apartheid Drearn," Fasrr-
of Parliament who publicly branded Presideni de Klerk a ington Post,-May 23, L993, p,31.
traitor when he handed him 30 pieces of silver.
The acting head of the Conservative Party, Ferdi Hartzen-
berg - expected to succeed the late Andries Treurnicht - to shoulder," said Andrew Ford. "The greatest enemies are
ardently believes in apartheid. He also maintains close con- whites who are behind everything that has gone wrong. They
tacts with elements in the AWB.37 Hartzenberg recently too will be shot. We have our plans. Watch us."ar Some of
threatened on television that his "people" would offer armed those plans have already been implemented: AWB now holds
resistance to any settlement which resulted in a democratic military training camps every weekend all over the country
government dominated by the ANC. "We are going to -fight and there are indications that its commando structures have
until we have our freedom again," Hartzenberg vowed.3E grown significantly since the March 1992 white referendum.
33. Interview with Booyse, op. cit
34. Sunday Star (Johannesburg), November 10, 1991. 39. Interview with Booyse, op. cir
35. Vrye Weel:b lad S,lewtown), November 8, 1991. 40. rbid.
3t,. Vrye Weelbla4 November L5, 199L. 41,. The Star, Apilz4, t993.
3',. Weekly Mail. April 23, 1993. 42. Interview with Booyse, op. clr
3t. Pretori.a News, April 26, 1993. 43. Sunday Times, Apil25, L993.
Summer 1993 CovertAction 9
In a move toward even greater militancy, TerreBlanche Land of Extremes and Extremists
was recently sidelined by the Military Council of the AWB, South Africa has always been known as a country of ex-
uhich has reportedly taken control ofthe organization.44 ttemes: extreme wealth and poverty, extreme beauty, extreme
The second largest para- temperatures, extreme anger, and
military organization after the above all, extreme racism.
AWB is the Boer Commando Angry rightwingers say Most political analysts
under the leadership of Gawie regard the rightwing as a very
Volschenk. Although it has they are ready for war. serious and dangerous threat.
only about 600 members, they Decades of apartheid have cre-
are-well-trained.45 Their guns are loaded, ated an ugly and nasty strain of
The Order of the Boer Na- white South Africans. They
tion has less than 80 mernbers, their hearts are poisoned, have been brutalized by the
but they are well-armed, - belief that black people are not
trained, and have already been and their fear and desperation only inferior, but are in favor of
implicated in large-scale right- a violent and communist-in-
wing violence, including mur- spired overthrow of "civilized
make them dangerous indeed.
der and sabotage.46 and Christian rule."
Numerous smaller organiza- I do not know what the future
tions also fight against majority of my country holds. Perhaps
rule. Because of internal rifts, there are, for example, three rightwingers will eventually support majority rule when they
Boer Resistance Movements. More "intellectual" organiza- discover that under the rule of President Nelson Mandela,
tions such aslhe Boere-Bevrydingsbeweging (Boer Freedom their farms, cars, and pensions have not disappeared. As
Movement) and the Boerestaat Party (Boer State Movement) Weekly Mailpolitical editor Phillip van Niekerk puts it: "That
also compete for influence. may be the momenl of knowing that while change is in-
evitable, war is not. The world will not come to an end. We
need to get there soon." Others are not so confident.Angry
44. The Star, August 24, l9X);Weekly Mail April 30, 1993; and interview rightwingers say they are ready for war. Their guns are
w,th Booyse, op. cit
4465.. rTbhied .Star, April 23, 1993. tloioand emda, kteh etihr ehme adrtasn agreer opuosis ionndede, eandd. their fear and despera.-
10 CovertAction Number 45
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thf;'tllIilt
ll t'ltlffitrht GLOBAL LlNKS TO SOUTH AFRICA'S RACE WAR AND HANI ASSASSINATION
NAZI ECHO: GERMANY FOR THE GERMANS
HAITI: POLITICS OF BLOOD AND RACE
ltTtlIl\rp ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: CIVIL RIGHTS AND WRONGS t\friiffi'hkt
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THE CRIME OF PUNISHMENT AT PELICAN BAY MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON
I BLACK YOUTH IN POLICE CROSSHA]RS
rtri i?| II [t t INTERVIEW: FRED WEIR IN RUSSIA inl[t\t]illf
PROFITEERS FUEL THE WAR IN ANGOLA
GUEST EDITORIAL: BENJAMlN F. CHAVIS, JR.
t
!r
USAND, TWO HUNDRED SLAIN BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS
Summer 1993 (Number 45) $5.50
CovertAction
RT
Global Links to Race War in South The Crime of Punishment at Pelican
Africa and the Hani Assassination Bay Maximum Security Prison
Pauw
Jacques 4 Corey Weinstein & Eric Cummins 38
With the murder of Chris Haniand calls for a Under the unblinking eye of electronic sur-
white Afrikaner homeland, the neo-Nazi Right veillance, this prototype prison locks men up
- backed by international allies - arms for for over 23 hours a day in high{ech torture
a last-ditch battle to maintain minority rule. chambers.
Nazi Echo: Germany for the Germans lreland's Targeted Generation
Swart
Michael Hahn 11 Betsy 46
The neo-Nazi Right is on the march against The British military is targeting a generation
immigrants, Jews, and other "undesirables." of lrish youth for neutralization or death. Four
The Kohl government, concerned about the young men are gunned down when they fight
business climate, slaps a few wrists while it back against constant harassment and dead-
supports anti-immigrant legislation. ended futures with an act of defiance.
Haiti: Politics of Blood and Race Black Youth in Police Grosshairs
Coughlin Jennings
Dan 20 Keith 50
Hundreds of Haitians, guilty only of being On U.S. streets, skin color equals probable
HIV-positive, have been incarcerated for cause as police subject black men to a parti-
months at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, cular human rights abuse: collective punishment.
There, U.S. forces subject them to psyops as
well as medical and physicalabuse.
Russia
lnterview: Fred Weir in 54
Anti-Defamation League: The Soviet-era Communist elite has ex-
Civil Rights and Wrongs changed its hammers and sickles for
Jabara American Express cards. Meanwhile, with
Abdeen 28 rising unemployment, pollution and
The ADL has run a systematic long-term nationalism, Russia enters an era of political,
private political spy network against "pinkos," economic, and social disintegration.
the Right, and "Arabs," passing on informa-
tion to the U.S., South African, and lsraeli
governments. Check the list for your group. Profiteers Fue! War in Angola
Beaulaurier
Sharon 61
lncreasingly, bogus relief companies, CIA-
The cover graphic is taken from, 'ln Memory of Two
Thousand Two Hundred Slain Black South linked airlines, and freelance gunrunners are
Africans,' by Detroit artist Carl Owens, 1986. strenghtening uNlrA's drivetowin on the battle-
field what it lost in free and fair elections.
Summer 1993 CovertAction 3