Judge: Boeremag commander knew of war plan

2012-08-13 12:41

Two of the 22 Boeremag treason trial accused are seen in the North Gauteng High Court where judgment finally commenced. (Sapa)

Pretoria - Judgment in the treason trial of a group of Afrikaner right-wingers continued in the North Gauteng High Court on Monday.

Judge Eben Jordaan was concluding evidence against the 12th accused Dirk Hanekom, the only one of the group of 20 who had changed his testimony during the trial.

Jordaan had already convicted 10 of the Boeremag members accused of treason, arising from a plot to violently overthrow the government.

On Wednesday, Jordaan ruled the Boeremag's "military commander" Hanekom knew well that the organisation was going to war, and could not plead ignorance.

The court rejected Hanekom's claim that he "didn't have a clue what was going on" when a group of Boeremag members embarked on a "D-Day" mission on September 13 2002 aimed at planting bombs to create chaos in the country.

Several witnesses testified that Hanekom was standing next to Boeremag leader Tom Vorster when he said there was no turning back, and that he would detonate the first bomb to show his dedication to the cause.

Vorster's plan was to move to Potchefstroom to take over the military base there after causing chaos by detonating car bombs at various locations in Gauteng.

The mission was abandoned when the police got wind of the plans.

Hanekom gave different versions of what had happened. He said he had stopped the mission because it was "disorganised". He also said D-Day had merely been an exercise to see how prepared the Boers were to defend themselves in case of a large-scale, black-on-white attack.

One witness testified he was told to address Hanekom as "general". Hanekom admitted receiving a rank from Vorster, but denied ever being addressed as general.

- SAPA