Boeremag members set for sentencing

2013-02-05 07:27

Some of the Boeremag accused at the North Gauteng High Court. (Picture: Beeld)

Pretoria - The sentencing of 20 Boeremag members found guilty of high treason is expected to start in the North Gauteng High Court on Tuesday.

The far rightwingers were convicted last year of plotting to overthrow the African National Congress-led government.

Kobus Pretorius, his brothers Johan and Wilhelm, and Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws - who made up the group's bomb squad - were also found guilty of murdering Claudia Mokone.

She died when a piece of metal was dislodged by a Boeremag bomb planted on a railway line and was flung into her shack in Soweto in October 2002.

The five men were also found guilty of trying to murder former president Nelson Mandela with a homemade bomb in October 2002.

They were responsible for a series of explosions in Soweto, at Grand Central Airport, and at a bridge in Port Edward. They also tried to blow up a Buddhist temple in Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng.

During their trial, Pretorius and his brothers unsuccessfully applied to be declared prisoners of war.

They claimed they were freedom fighters involved in a legitimate war against the ANC government, to establish an independent Boer republic.

- SAPA