Amnesty Hearings — Boksburg — 1998-06-22

JAN B DE WET: After I took the tow bar from my vehicle, Commandant asked me to go with to the game farm.  The reason why he asked me was - at that stage I didn't want to go to the wives - the reason was that if there were problems where the wives were and they would move to another area, I did know where they were going if they would move and then I could probably show them which was the shortest way to get there.

MS VAN DER WALT: Apart from being uncomfortable for the women at Cliff Barnard's farm, why did they go and stay at your farm?

JAN B DE WET: There was enough facilities for them and because it was told that we were in a war situation now.  That the wives must be in a secure place and 20 kilometres from where the wives where, there was 400 AWB people gathered together with their families.  They were armed, and they had radio communication with each other if problems would arise.

MS VAN DER WALT: Did they know that the wives were on this farm?

JAN B DE WET: Yes.

MS VAN DER WALT: From the shooting range, did you then leave the Tuesday evening?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, we left to Ottosdal where the farm was.

MS VAN DER WALT: And Wednesday, the day of the election, 27th of April?

JAN B DE WET: The day of the election, we went back to Ventersdorp.  The reason why we went to Ventersdorp was that two of the men that went with us, their wives in the meantime, they did not want to be part of the group of women who was together there and they went to Ventersdorp to go back to their homes, or Johannesburg where they lived.  They did not want to be part of the struggle any more.
	In order for them to get to their wives, we went to Ventersdorp.  We went round to the AWB Head Office.  Fourie and myself went to Terreblanche where he was busy in the office, he was on the phone.  After Mr Terreblanche finished with his phone call, he told us that early in the morning Nico Prinsloo and Leon van der Merwe and people in Pretoria, were also arrested for the bomb plantings.
	He then told us that we must go back to the shooting range and tell the people there that if we are arrested, that we must make no statements and that we must make use of our right, to keep quiet.

MS VAN DER WALT: Did you then go to the shooting range?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, from there we went to the shooting range.  On the way Abe Fourie, I asked him to go along to one farm, there were certain things that I wanted to pick up there.
	We stopped at the farm, just before we drove into the farm, a vehicle came from Rustenburg, it flashed its lights and said that we must not go to the shooting range, they are busy arresting the people at the shooting range.

MS VAN DER WALT: You did not then go back?

JAN B DE WET: No, we did not.

MS VAN DER WALT: And you were arrested later?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, three to four months later I was arrested in Ottosdal.

MS VAN DER WALT: This whole operation that took place, under whose command was this whole gathering?

JAN B DE WET: I believe the AWB leader, Terreblanche, the General Staff because at various areas in the Western Transvaal, AWB Commanders came together with different Generals, who were tasked for this mission.

MS VAN DER WALT: Specifically at this game farm, where you were, was there any General that was in command?

JAN B DE WET: At the game farm, Nico Prinsloo was the Commanding Officer.

MS VAN DER WALT: The place where you left the bomb, was this indicated to you where to leave this bomb?

JAN B DE WET: Yes.

MS VAN DER WALT: Did you discuss beforehand that there would be a specific target?

JAN B DE WET: There were no specific targets indicated to us.  It was general public in the area.  If there were white people, black people, AWB people, CP people, it didn't matter who were killed in this bomb planting.  We didn't have a specific task to say, to target a specific group of people, it was in order to disrupt the election, to prevent the people from taking part in the election.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr De Wet, the chances that a member of the AWB would die in that situation was very slim,  because at that stage your plans were that everybody would be gathered in Ventersdorp?

JAN B DE WET: My vehicle with the bomb, I had the risk that I would lose my life.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, I understand, but general members of the public, it wouldn't be a big chance that there would be an AWB members, because everybody was in Ventersdorp?

JAN B DE WET: I believe at that stage, there were some AWB people who were not willing to give everything up and move to the Volkstaat.

MS VAN DER WALT: Mr De Wet, evidence was given by Mr Fourie that he sold everything, he left his job in order to move up to the Western Transvaal.  What was your situation?

JAN B DE WET: Myself, the place where I worked at a mine and with the Affirmative Action, it was told to me that I was one of the people who had to leave because also of my right wing activities.
	I then took a package and I went to Ventersdorp where at the Head Office of the AWB, I started a guard section in order to protect Eugene Terreblanche and his family.

MS VAN DER WALT: Was this before the election?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, it was before the election.

MS VAN DER WALT: Do you know if Mr Terreblanche ever mentioned the revolution that will begin?

JAN B DE WET: It was general knowledge that there is a revolution on its way and in his meeting and speeches, he said that revolution will take place.

MS VAN DER WALT: Did he personally talk to you about this?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, at one stage we went to a meeting, I protected him, where Constand Viljoen and some of the Generals attended.  On the way back to Ventersdorp, it was in Pretoria, on the way back to Ventersdorp he mentioned that Constand Viljoen told him that with the war that is coming, he will appoint the cities to Eugene Terreblanche.

MS VAN DER WALT: What did you understand regarding this appointment to Eugene Terreblanche?

JAN B DE WET: In January/February we went to the Skilpad Hall in Pretoria where Viljoen and some of the other Generals and right wing leaders were together.  It was said that we will not negotiate with the National Party or the ANC/SACP alliance, that we will fight this war.
	And then I concluded that because it was war talk at every single meeting, that Mr Terreblanche's Wenkommando will use the cities to make war.

CHAIRPERSON: How many people would that be in the Wenkommando?

JAN B DE WET: Sir, at that stage as far as I know, there were more than 40 000 AWB members in the Western Transvaal.

CHAIRPERSON: I am talking about these people who would fight in the war?

JAN B DE WET: In total the AWB and the right wing spectrum, it was more than a million people.

CHAIRPERSON: Is that what Terreblanche said to you?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, that is what Constand Viljoen and Terreblanche said in their speeches regarding the membership.

CHAIRPERSON: Was that the truth?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, I believed that it was the truth.

CHAIRPERSON: And now?

JAN B DE WET: Today I know that we were only a small group that were misled.

UNKNOWN: This war talk that you had heard, wasn't the revolution supposed to start once the ANC took over, wasn't that what your leaders were saying to you?

JAN B DE WET: We were already within a revolution since the National Party started to negotiate with the ANC with a one man, one vote.
	But the revolution would begin the day when the ANC takes over.

CHAIRPERSON: What was wrong with the one man, one vote, idea?

JAN B DE WET: Sir, because I believed in a Volkstaat ideal that when the ANC takes over, they will not look after my interests.  They want us to unite, that the culture which you support, must be mixed now and I don't want my culture and religion to mix with others.

CHAIRPERSON: Religion as well?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, religion as well.