Battle lines drawn in Ventersdorp
2010-04-06 18:09
Ventersdorp - Racial tension ran high in the farming town of Ventersdorp on Tuesday as two people were charged with the murder of AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche.
Terre'Blanche's murder, on his farm on Saturday apparently during a pay dispute, came amid rising anger over ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema's singing of the lyrics "shoot the boer", which many have interpreted as incitement to violence against farmers.
Malema has rejected this suggestion, saying the police must be left to investigate the matter, which has propelled President Jacob Zuma to call for calm twice over the weekend.
Taunting
But outside the Ventersdorp Magistrate's Court, matters came to a head when a group of black and white observers taunted each other with song.
A white group sang the apartheid-era national anthem, Die Stem, while the black group sang the original version of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, which was sung by ANC cadres before liberation.
Inside the court, Chris Mahlangu, 28, and a minor, who cannot be named, waited to be formally charged with murder, house breaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances, crimen injuria and attempted robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The charge of crimen injuria relates to Terre'Blanche's pants allegedly being pulled down to expose his private parts.
Confrontation
A white woman is believed to have thrown cooldrink at the black group during the singing, setting off a physical confrontation, which had police wedging themselves between the two groups, then separating them with razor wire.
Themba Mbatha, from Ekurhuleni, who had been splashed said: "We are not here to fight and the worst thing that they did now is to separate us with barbed wire."
The AWB members were dressed in khaki and camouflage, waving the extreme right-wing movement's flag, with its swastika-like emblem, and the old South African flag, to the offence of many gathered there.
SA National Civic Organisation regional chairperson Bombo Matinyane said AWB members were hypocrites, because they condemned Malema's song, yet they carried apartheid flags.
"If they say they want peace why are they showing the apartheid flag. I think both Malema and the AWB must be condemned."
3 000 new members
Claiming to have received 3 000 new applications for membership since Terre'Blanche's murder, the AWB movement, formed from a garage in Heidelberg in the '70s, had been quiet since Terre'Blanche was sent to jail for severely assaulting a petrol attendant.
"People say they are gatvol (fed up)," said AWB spokesperson Pieter Steyn, explaining the renewed interest.
Public sentiment on Terre'Blanche was mixed with some saying he was an "icon" who had put Ventersdorp on the map, while others called the two accused "heroes" for allegedly murdering him.
The court appearance of the two would not be open to the public, as the one is a minor, and their trial would not be separated.
Plea
They have not yet pleaded to the charges.
Much of the morning's proceedings were taken up with laying out the path the case would take and making sure that new child laws were adhered to.
The boy would be assessed to establish whether he had the capacity to commit murder, or whether he was acting on instruction.
"It was postponed for seven days to finalise that issue," explained State advocate George Baloyi.
National Prosecuting Authority head Menzi Simelane said that so far the two farm workers were the only ones known to have been involved in the crime.
They had considered moving the case to a high court, but decided to keep it in Ventersdorp as the community wanted justice "from here".
And, as the AWB announced Steyn van Ronge as its new leader, the 15-year-old's attorney, Zola Majavu, relayed a message from the youth to the community: "Please, please don't hurt my family".
- SAPA