Amnesty Hearings — Johannesburg — 1998-06-09

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: He specifically warned us against the fact that the election was on hand, this is now the '94 election, and that we, as "boere" or white people, did not have any chance to win that election because we are the minority.   He also told us from the stage that we have to make ourselves ready because a revolution was going to happen and there would not be a '94 election, it would not be held, and we will definitely offer resistance before a communist government would govern us.

MR PRINSLOO: Did you have anything to do with matters concerning military instructions and that of APLA?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Yes.   Inkatha, I was involved with training of certain Inkatha members, sorry, not APLA, it was also the basic war techniques, fire and movement, the handling of firearms and we helped to train them and we've tried to install some discipline into them.

MR PRINSLOO: And was this the instruction of the AWB?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: That is correct, Chairperson.

MR PRINSLOO: Did you also provide defence and security for Viljoen and Terreblanche, Ferdi Hartzenberg, etcetera?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Yes, Chairperson, that's correct, I was part of security at the meetings.

MR PRINSLOO: Were these open or closed meetings?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Closed meetings, where only the leaders got together.

MR PRINSLOO: And at these meetings were anything conveyed to you, what happened at those meetings, which you can recall?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Chairperson, Mr Kloppers told me of some of the things which happened and were discussed there, and as far as I know Oelofse told him this, and that's how I got to know about this, and Kloppers then told me this.

MR PRINSLOO: And what did you understand from all of that?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Chairperson, what I could understand from that was that the revolution was on hand and that it was going to take place in order to stop the elections, and I also heard that a great part of Constand Viljoen's supporters would help us, and that there's also a big part of the army and when there was enough chaos in the country, would also help us.

MR PRINSLOO: Was it also conveyed to you that a Volkstaat would be created and that certain towns and places would belong to you alone then?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Chairperson, not at that stage, at that stage, I understood that we had to stop the election.   There were plans to, I think the Western Transvaal, to make that our own, but what I understood was that there was definitely a decision to start the revolution.

MR PRINSLOO: Your parents, which political party did they belong to?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: They've always been Conservative, and they always believed in ruling ourselves, otherwise they wouldn't have been Conservative.

MR PRINSLOO: And you supported that policy?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Yes, definitely, Chairperson.

MR PRINSLOO: And the policy, before the unbanning of the ANC, that of separate development, apartheid as it was known, did you support that policy?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: It was the only policy I knew when I was growing up.

MR PRINSLOO: Mr Badenhorst, the 12th of December 1993, you received a call from someone?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: That is correct, Chairperson, it was from Deon Martin's wife, Louise.

MR PRINSLOO: And what was the purpose of that call?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: She told me - if I may just ask, can I use the word "roadhouse", because then everybody would get confused between a roadhouse and a roadblock - I was told that Deon gave instruction, I must go to the roadhouse in my complete AWB uniform... (intervention).

MR PRINSLOO: Just in a lighter, I understand Commandant Martin's wife also spoke of the roadhouse in good Afrikaans?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: No, that's actually English.   I know I'm not very good with English, but... (intervention).

MR PRINSLOO: You must go to the roadhouse then and you must be dressed in uniform?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: I must also take my fire weapon and I must wear my camouflage uniform, or I must take it with me.

MR PRINSLOO: Which fire weapon did you have at that stage?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Maverick "haelpomp".

MR PRINSLOO: It's a shotgun, is it a shotgun that can shoot more than one round, more than one action?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: That's correct, it takes six rounds, if there's also bullets, usually I only had five bullets, so that the (indistinct).

MR PRINSLOO: And you took this with you to the roadhouse, is that correct?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: That is correct.

MR PRINSLOO: Now when you got to the roadhouse, what happened?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: When I arrived there, most of the people were already there.   Commandant Phil Kloppers arrived the last of everyone, and when he arrived there, we were called to attention and we stood to attention, and Commandant Kloppers addressed us and said that he was coming from an order group where General Japie was, and that the revolution would start today, and that the time was ready, and that this is the real McCoy and the revolution would definitely start that night, the night of the 12th, and that bodies had to be shown for this.

MR PRINSLOO: And General Japie, General Japie, who is this now, what's his surname?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: General Japie Oelofse.

MR PRINSLOO: And what do you mean when you say "real McCoy", what is that?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: That this was the actual thing, that this was the real revolution that was going to take place.

MR PRINSLOO: And after this was conveyed to you, where did you go then?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Chairperson, all of us didn't have firearms, and Head Commandant Kloppers took two pipes from his car and gave one to Visser, Etienne Visser, and firstly Gert, originally Gert, Gert Diedericks that is, but I saw that Martin van der Schyff, at the same scene, also got the weapon in the place of Gert Diedericks.

MR PRINSLOO: Do you know of any reason why Gert Diedericks would have handled the weapon?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: No, I do not know.

MR PRINSLOO: And then Van der Schyff and Visser each received a pipe shotgun, and then he left the roadside cafe?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: That is correct.   We had too many vehicles and we left some of the vehicles at my father's house.   They were on holiday at that stage, and at the same time there the Mercedes and the Nissan's number plates were changed with tape.

MR PRINSLOO: This was the Mercedes of Deon Martin and the Nissan of Van der Schyff, sorry, of Visser?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: That's correct, of Visser.

MR PRINSLOO: And was there any alcohol at your house?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: No, not there, no.

MR PRINSLOO: And from your house, where did you go?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: From my house, after we left some of the vehicles there, we took two vehicles and we went to Andre Visser's house, or rather his flat, where, and there we drank whisky.

MR PRINSLOO: And yourself, did you drink?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: That is correct, I did drink a glass.

MR PRINSLOO: A glass?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: Yes, that's correct.

MR PRINSLOO: Is that clean whisky or was it mixed with something else?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: I think mine was mixed with water, I can't remember.

MR PRINSLOO: And the whisky you drank, did it influence you in any sense?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: No, not at all.

MR PRINSLOO: After you were at the house of Visser, where did you go from there?

FREDERICK JACOBUS BADENHORST: From Visser's house, we went to Commandant Deon Martin's, his smallholding, or his plot.

MR PRINSLOO: And what happened at that plot?