Amnesty Hearings — Boksburg — 1998-06-22

MS VAN DER WALT: The report goes further in the third paragraph, this is now Terreblanche speaking and the violence would not only take place within the Afrikaner area which they considered the Volkstaat, but also all over the country and then you would get nothing.
	That is what he said addressing the ANC.  Do you have any comment on this?

JAN B DE WET: That was because of the utterances made by the ANC leaders.  The fact that they said one bullet, Kill a Boer, Kill a Farmer.  I think it was because of that, that if the ANC would not get anything out of this whole deal.

MS VAN DER WALT: He goes further and he says at the meeting as well, that if they want the bombs to stop exploding, they must admit the nation's right which leads every nation to determine himself, with the right to self determination.
	Ferdi Hartzenberg was also at the meeting, is that correct?

JAN B DE WET: That is correct.  And if I can remember correctly, Constand Viljoen was also there.

MS VAN DER WALT: It seems quite evident that he was adamant on a white election or referendum so that the will of the nation which is quoted, so that it could be demonstrated?

JAN B DE WET: Yes Chairperson, the Freedom Front, the AWB and the other right wing organisations, they often asked at these meetings that a white election could be held so that we can determine whether the whites wanted a general election or not.

MS VAN DER WALT: What was your idea, and this idea did the AWB have the same objective?  What would have happened if the election took place with regards to the ideal of the AWB to establish a Volkstaat?

JAN B DE WET: If the elections took place, no regard would have been given to a Volkstaat for the white Chairperson.

MS VAN DER WALT: And he said that is why the AWB wanted to stop the election?

JAN B DE WET: That is correct Chairperson.

MS VAN DER WALT: Mr De Wet, did you gain any personal benefit from these deeds?

JAN B DE WET: None Chairperson.

MS VAN DER WALT: What was your situation before this operation, you said you lost your job, but did you have ground on which you were farming?

JAN B DE WET: After I worked for a while in the AWB, I started working for a private business.  I stayed on a farm on Ottosdal where I farmed.  When the Volkstaat became an ideal, we received the call up instructions, I lost all of that.  Today I've got nothing.

MS VAN DER WALT: Did you commit any of these deeds out of malice?

JAN B DE WET: No, I did not do it out of malice, I did it for the organisation, the AWB.

MS VAN DER WALT: You did not testify about all of the meetings, but do you confirm the contents of your amnesty application?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, I confirm it Chairperson.

MS VAN DER WALT: No further questions.

MS VAN DER WALT: .

MR PRINSLOO: Thank you Mr Chairperson.  Mr De Wet, you gave evidence that you and Mr Potgieter who were your co-accused, was this a person that was accused with you or was he a State witness?

JAN B DE WET: If I can remember correctly, he was at one stage charged, but he was only in prison for a while and then they used him as a State witness against us.

MR PRINSLOO: Mr De Wet,  in Exhibit F that was shown to you it is also said that earlier the week Mr Terreblanche said that if the Afrikaners before the 27th of April get a Volkstaat or be added into the constitution, there will be no force big enough to stop them, that hell will break loose and that neither me or Ferdi Hartzenberg will be able to stop that.  How did you interpret that, you said that you did read the article?

JAN B DE WET: For me it was a very real instruction, that we will fight this war if we did not get what we wanted.

MR PRINSLOO: Did you understand out of this that these explosions would occur before the election?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, before the election, with the election and I believe also after the elections, if the people were not arrested, there would be other bomb explosions and violence.

MR PRINSLOO: After the explosion at Bree Street, did you see it on TV at any stage during that day?

JAN B DE WET: The Bree Street explosion we saw the Sunday evening on the television.

MR PRINSLOO: What impression did it leave with you, what you saw?

JAN B DE WET: The person who read the news that evening said that it, I am going to use my own words, it made a very big impression on the world because there is someone who would like to disrupt the election.
	The media put it very clearly that someone wants to disrupt the election.

MR PRINSLOO: Did you believe that those explosions would prevent the elections from continuing?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, it was very clear that with such explosions, there would be no election.

MR PRINSLOO: With the explosions that occurred the next day, that is now the Monday, the 25th of April in Germiston and the pipe bombings, as well as an explosion in Pretoria, what was your impression or global expression regarding those explosions?

JAN B DE WET: That the chaos that would come from this, would disrupt the elections.

MR PRINSLOO: Would it have any purpose if you allowed to when the election started, to only begin with your bombings on that day?

JAN B DE WET: No, it was a struggle that began in the early 1990's.

MR PRINSLOO: Thank you Mr Chairperson.

MR PRINSLOO: .

MR LANDMAN: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Mr De Wet, just referring to Exhibit F again, that is the newspaper article, the third paragraph on the left hand side.  The violence will not only take place in the area which the Afrikaners see as the Volkstaat, but across the whole country, and you will get bugger all or then you will get bugger all.  That is what he said of the ANC.
	What did he mean when he said that they would get bugger all?

JAN B DE WET: That the country will never belong to the ANC at that stage.

MR LANDMAN: Would there by anything left of the country for the ANC?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, something would have been left.

MR LANDMAN: What is "bugger-all" then?  What does that mean?

JAN B DE WET: We would fight against the ANC, we would make war against them and that is the impression that I got from that.

MR LANDMAN: Sir, I put it to you it is clear here, what you are saying is that there will be violence everywhere, and there will be nothing left for the ANC, isn't that so?

JAN B DE WET: That is what it says yes, I saw it that there would be something left for a new beginning.

CHAIRPERSON: How do you make that conclusion?

JAN B DE WET: Sir, I believe that you would have to plant a whole lot of bombs if you want to destroy the whole country in order for there to be nothing left.

CHAIRPERSON: I know that is the practical conclusion of that, the question is how did you understand that sentence?

JAN B DE WET: For me it was that nothing would be given to the ANC, we will fight for what is ours.  That is how I interpreted it.

MR LANDMAN: Sir, I want to put it to you that the other interpretation which is more clear, is that you will attempt to destroy everything, so that there will be nothing left?

JAN B DE WET: I do not agree with that Mr Chairperson.

MR LANDMAN: That is why you planted all these highly damaging bombs that destroyed buildings?

JAN B DE WET: The bombs that were planted in Johannesburg, it was only a small part that was destroyed and it was not the whole of Johannesburg.

MR LANDMAN: Mr De Wet, seeing the carnage caused by the Bree Street bomb on television on the Sunday night, did you think a few more of these big bombs would then bring an end to the election?

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

MR LANDMAN: And that is all that you wanted to do, was to stop the election?

JAN B DE WET: Yes, to stop the election.

MR LANDMAN: There was no need to throw pipe bombs, small pipe bombs at groups of people?

JAN B DE WET: Sir, I was not the planner of the pipe bombs, so I cannot say what the purpose was of them.  If it was also possibly to create further chaos.