News / Africa
AWB a threat to SA security
05 Jun 2012 at 13:30hrs | Views
CAPE TOWN- South Africa is in danger of becoming Mexico or Colombia of Africa because of its failure to reign in extremist groups such as the right-wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), a neo-Nazi para-military organization founded by Eugene Terree Blanche in 1973.
This organisation, which advocated for a separate Boer state in the late 80s and early 90s is compossed of die hard Afrikaners whose members include veterans of the Angolan and Namibian wars.Some of the former members of the apartheid army are active members of AWB and have been linked with the training of Afrikaner youths on farms in some parts of the country.
Most experienced and highly trained white SADF officers quit the military after 1994 when the ANC came to power.Some set up private security firms while others continued with their military activities, providing training to some armies in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Others joined Executive Outcomes, a well known security company which which supplied military instructors and security advisors to some governments in Africa.
Executive Outcomes also supplied mercenaries in conflict regions.
The government and the police are said to be aware of some of the covert activities of the military veterans but no action has been taken against the culprits.
Concerned parliamentarians raised the issue in parliament and asked why the government had not taken any action to shut down the camps.A video posted on the internet showed a former South African Defence Force officer conducting training for Afrikaner youths in full military camouflage on a farm in Mpumalanga province.
The question is where and how did the youths obtain the army uniform.It boggles the mind when the government does not see any evil intentions when dangerous former special forces of the SADF and remnants of the former Rhodesian army conduct clandestine military training of youths on farms.
What will those white youths do with their military knowledge once they complete their training.On the Mpumalanga farm it was reported that the white youths were being taught to hate blacks.
Training of soldiers is the duty of the government not individuals or extremists organisations like the AWB whose members don't hide their hatred for blacks and other races.I spoke to some Zimbabwean and Mozambican farm workers in Limpopo province and they told me they usually see groups of whites of all ages visiting their farms.
According to one worker, some of the white visitors would be wearing khaki and green military uniforms.At one farm about 100 km from Makhado, some whites were seen doing military drills on weekends.
In Mexico, the government there, despite massive financial injection from the Americans, is still struggling to eliminate well armed groups funded by drug barons.Some of the armed gangs control areas where government soldiers fear to tread.That could happen in South Africa if the government does not stop the activities of some SADF veterans.
South Africa is known to be a breeding ground for the soldiers of fortune dating back to the 70s.The South African mercenaries have taken part in a number of coups in Africa and elsewhere.But in the 90s the government, under pressure from human rights groups, took action and enacted a law that limited the activities of mercenaries.
The Prohibition of Mercenary Activity Bill prevents South Africans not serving in domestic armies from taking part in foreign conflicts.
The government action came after South African mercenaries were recruited to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.
Dozens of South Africans with military experience were recruited for the job but the plot failed when their plane landed in Harare, Zimbabwe where they were to collect supplies.
The mercenaries, led by Simon Mann were arrested and detained at the infamous Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison on the outskirts of Harare.The AWB gained international notoriety in 1994 when its members were sent to the homeland of Bophuthatswana to help mutinious soldiers there.
The AWB, along with a contingent of about 90 Afrikaner Volksfront members entered Mmabatho, the capital of the homeland on 10 and 11 March.Their military excursion turned out to be disastrous and black soldiers from the Bophuthatswana Defence Force loyal to Mangope protested at the AWB actions and attacked them.
When attempting to retreat from Mmabatho on 11 March, three AWB members were killed by Defence Force members after they had been wounded in a firefight. TV news crews recorded the incident, which proved to be the final nail to the AWB coffin.The bottom line is- the ANC government must put an end to the clandestine activities of AWB before its too late.As they say, prevention is better than cure.
Even former president Nelson Mandela once admitted that AWB members were a threat to security of the country.In 1993, AWB member Janusz Walus almost started a civil war between blacks and whites when he assassinated the powerful and one of the most respected black leaders, Chris Thembisile Hani at his home.
Terre Blanche was later quoted by a local newspaper saying even if Walus had not killed Hani, he would have done it himself.In 1993 Terre Blanche was quoted by The Times newspaper as saying : " We give the government six months to restore law and order and negotiate self determination with us.If they don't, we will negotiate over the barrel of a gun."
Sometimes one wonders whether South Africa's National Intelligence Agency (NIA) exist or its agents and informants have gone to sleep.Maybe they need to go for some counter-intelligence lessons from Robert Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
Although Mugabe's CIO agents are said to be ruthless to their own citizens, the NIA operatives can learn a few things from them especially on how to reign in groups such as the AWB.
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Thabo Kunene is a Zimbabwean Journalist based in Cape Town
This organisation, which advocated for a separate Boer state in the late 80s and early 90s is compossed of die hard Afrikaners whose members include veterans of the Angolan and Namibian wars.Some of the former members of the apartheid army are active members of AWB and have been linked with the training of Afrikaner youths on farms in some parts of the country.
Most experienced and highly trained white SADF officers quit the military after 1994 when the ANC came to power.Some set up private security firms while others continued with their military activities, providing training to some armies in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Others joined Executive Outcomes, a well known security company which which supplied military instructors and security advisors to some governments in Africa.
Executive Outcomes also supplied mercenaries in conflict regions.
The government and the police are said to be aware of some of the covert activities of the military veterans but no action has been taken against the culprits.
Concerned parliamentarians raised the issue in parliament and asked why the government had not taken any action to shut down the camps.A video posted on the internet showed a former South African Defence Force officer conducting training for Afrikaner youths in full military camouflage on a farm in Mpumalanga province.
The question is where and how did the youths obtain the army uniform.It boggles the mind when the government does not see any evil intentions when dangerous former special forces of the SADF and remnants of the former Rhodesian army conduct clandestine military training of youths on farms.
What will those white youths do with their military knowledge once they complete their training.On the Mpumalanga farm it was reported that the white youths were being taught to hate blacks.
Training of soldiers is the duty of the government not individuals or extremists organisations like the AWB whose members don't hide their hatred for blacks and other races.I spoke to some Zimbabwean and Mozambican farm workers in Limpopo province and they told me they usually see groups of whites of all ages visiting their farms.
According to one worker, some of the white visitors would be wearing khaki and green military uniforms.At one farm about 100 km from Makhado, some whites were seen doing military drills on weekends.
In Mexico, the government there, despite massive financial injection from the Americans, is still struggling to eliminate well armed groups funded by drug barons.Some of the armed gangs control areas where government soldiers fear to tread.That could happen in South Africa if the government does not stop the activities of some SADF veterans.
South Africa is known to be a breeding ground for the soldiers of fortune dating back to the 70s.The South African mercenaries have taken part in a number of coups in Africa and elsewhere.But in the 90s the government, under pressure from human rights groups, took action and enacted a law that limited the activities of mercenaries.
The Prohibition of Mercenary Activity Bill prevents South Africans not serving in domestic armies from taking part in foreign conflicts.
The government action came after South African mercenaries were recruited to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.
Dozens of South Africans with military experience were recruited for the job but the plot failed when their plane landed in Harare, Zimbabwe where they were to collect supplies.
The mercenaries, led by Simon Mann were arrested and detained at the infamous Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison on the outskirts of Harare.The AWB gained international notoriety in 1994 when its members were sent to the homeland of Bophuthatswana to help mutinious soldiers there.
The AWB, along with a contingent of about 90 Afrikaner Volksfront members entered Mmabatho, the capital of the homeland on 10 and 11 March.Their military excursion turned out to be disastrous and black soldiers from the Bophuthatswana Defence Force loyal to Mangope protested at the AWB actions and attacked them.
When attempting to retreat from Mmabatho on 11 March, three AWB members were killed by Defence Force members after they had been wounded in a firefight. TV news crews recorded the incident, which proved to be the final nail to the AWB coffin.The bottom line is- the ANC government must put an end to the clandestine activities of AWB before its too late.As they say, prevention is better than cure.
Even former president Nelson Mandela once admitted that AWB members were a threat to security of the country.In 1993, AWB member Janusz Walus almost started a civil war between blacks and whites when he assassinated the powerful and one of the most respected black leaders, Chris Thembisile Hani at his home.
Terre Blanche was later quoted by a local newspaper saying even if Walus had not killed Hani, he would have done it himself.In 1993 Terre Blanche was quoted by The Times newspaper as saying : " We give the government six months to restore law and order and negotiate self determination with us.If they don't, we will negotiate over the barrel of a gun."
Sometimes one wonders whether South Africa's National Intelligence Agency (NIA) exist or its agents and informants have gone to sleep.Maybe they need to go for some counter-intelligence lessons from Robert Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
Although Mugabe's CIO agents are said to be ruthless to their own citizens, the NIA operatives can learn a few things from them especially on how to reign in groups such as the AWB.
-----------------
Thabo Kunene is a Zimbabwean Journalist based in Cape Town
Source - Thabo Kunene
