Amnesty Hearings — Boksburg — 1998-06-22

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Chairperson, if I must explain at one stage there were people in Rustenburg in 1993 and 1992, who planted a bomb.  At that stage he was the Commander of the AWB's Wenkommando and he for me, he was - the commando unit who was in the Brits area, he was the Commander of that area.
	He was involved in that bombing, he was a member of the AWB, he was a Commandant in the AWB, but when he was arrested for the bombing, it was the Boere Ordevolk who took responsibility for the explosion of the bomb.  For me, it was that because the AWB was involved in a political struggle, that they did not use the AWB's name, but a group which associated themselves with the AWB.
	A splinter group is just a group which breaks away from the main group.

ADV BOSMAN: Are you saying to us now that this BKA and Boere Orde group is part of the AWB?

JAN B DE WET: These are groups who break away from the AWB, who is not doing it under the name of the AWB, but doing it under their own organisations, like the Boere Ordevolk, or Boere Krisis Aksie. They are still a member of the AWB.

ADV BOSMAN: So what you are actually saying, I don't know if you know the word, they were affiliated or an affiliated group of the AWB, is that what you mean?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, that is correct.

ADV BOSMAN: You must be very careful with the words that you use, because a splinter group means that it is a separate group and an affiliated group means that it is a group that reconcile themselves and see themselves as part of the AWB, you must be very careful with the words that you use, because it can be very confusing.

JAN B DE WET: Thank you Mr Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: The way I understand your evidence thus far is that you accept that for those bomb plantings, it was in a capacity of the splinter groups as you called them, not in the name of the AWB?

JAN B DE WET: No Mr Chairman, the AWB never took responsibility for it.

MR MALAN: Can I just come back here, because even this affiliated groups give me a problem.  If I understand you correctly, there is a group of members who do something under a pseudonym or does something under another name?

JAN B DE WET: Mr Chairperson, it is not a pseudonym, it is names that after a while, you can call it a type of code name because suddenly that organisation or group, was never part of the AWB after the deeds were done, these groups would then use this name.

MR MALAN: It is a name for an action or an opportunity, so it depends on the opportunity or the circumstances?

JAN B DE WET: That is correct.

MR MALAN: Did you see it as part of the AWB's initiative or did you see it as part of a group of individuals' agenda?

JAN B DE WET: No Mr Chairperson, it had the approval of the AWB and other institutions.

MR MALAN: Did they have the approval or did you see them as part of their own personal agenda?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, it was part of their agenda, because if someone did something, they would then take responsibility for it.

MR MALAN: You don't think that they just got on the wagon later on, got on the bandwagon in order to focus attention to themselves and that it not necessarily was planned?

JAN B DE WET: No Mr Chairperson, for me it was deeds that were planned because in circles they talked about the right wing who did it or the AWB who did it.

MR MALAN: The series of bomb plantings that took place, would you describe that as a splinter group action?

JAN B DE WET: No Mr Chairperson, that what I understood from Nico Prinsloo and Barnard, is that the AWB would take responsibility for it because it was instructions that came directly from Eugene Terreblanche.

MR MALAN: I think you should in this evidence, keep with the splinter group concept because otherwise we are going to get confused.  We can try and understand the concept better, but I don't think you must use other names for the same term.

JAN B DE WET: Thank you.

MR LANDMAN: Mr Chairman, on behalf of the victim for whom I appear and I believe on behalf of Ms Cambanis who sits next to me, we are deeply disturbed by the questioning which has just taken place.  We would like a few minutes to consider our position and to see whether an application ought not to be considered or not.  We would just like about a ten minute
adjournment, possibly an early tea adjournment even.  Thank you.
COMMITTEE ADJOURNS