Old flag makes ugly appearance
2004-04-27 21:20
Liela Magnus and Jan-Jan Joubert
Pretoria - A group of conservatives hoisted the old Transvaal Republic flag, the "Vierkleur", and encouraged a crowd of about 100 to have more children to save the Afrikaner nation at Church Square in Pretoria on Freedom Day before police asked them to leave.
Police dispersed the small crowd after the flag-bearers upset a group of black onlookers.
At the meeting, people were told not to support business of whites who "bend the knee before communist terrorist gangs" by accepting name changes.
"We should refuse to use new names in addresses. If they don't want to deliver the mail, we will do it ourselves. We have enough people who drive up and down," Theuns de Wet of the Afrikaner Cultural Bond told the meeting.
Another speaker, Henk van de Graaf of the House of Orange, encouraged the audience to "fill the cradle" to ensure the future of "the nation".
When the group started singing the former anthem and other songs from the apartheid era, a man across the road started shouting "viva Thabo Mbeki, viva!". Roodt replied with "viva se moer. We will be free again".
The crowd of onlookers soon swelled to more than 300.
The group of conservatives started slipping away around the corner until there were about 10 left.
Police asked the few die-hards to leave.