Apartheid: !!!!!!!! - Page 3 - Stormfront
06-18-2005, 03:52 PM #21
06-19-2005, 09:42 AM #22
Wouter Basson Die sondes van die vaders
Met die aanloop van die oorlog in Irak het een man se naam weer in die media opgeduik: Wouter Basson, deskundige in chemiese oorlogvoering. Maar watter toekoms het hy, sy generasie en hulle geheime vir jong Suid-Afrikaners agtergelaat?
Dis nag, 1963
Wouter Basson en sy boetie, seuns van 'n polisieman, lê op hulle rug op die plat motorhuisdak van hulle voorstedelike huis in Milnerton. Twee blokke verder is die grys betonmuur wat die lugmagbasis Ysterplaat omring. Hulle kyk op na die donderende lug. Die Dakota, met sy skroewe wat deur die nag sny, lig sy neus bokant die muur en rys hoog bokant hulle ekstatiese gesigte. Die flitsende ligte op die vlerke en stert raak in die sterre verlore. Die Suid-Afrikaanse weermaggeneraals aan boord is op pad na Pretoria.
In die jaar dat Wouter hom by die Sewende Mediese Bataljon aansluit - 1975 - koop my oupa Pieter Rossouw 'n huis met die naam Windswept in Milnerton. Dis naby die Riet, 'n modderige rivier. Hy plant 'n appelliefiebos, koejawelboom en bosse madeliefies in sy erf. Sy vrou se naam is Daisy. As 'n radioamateur en teleurgestelde man laat hy nie my ouma toe om haar eie onderklere by die OK Bazaar te koop nie. Dis hier waar ek later, kort voor my ma se egskeiding en ons gesin se verhuising na die hart van Milnerton, vir 'n kort tyd in 'n woonwa bly.
Ek is in 1977 gebore toe Wouter Basson die lyfarts word van die destydse minister van verdediging, P.W. Botha. Die veiligheid van Suid-Afrika was in Botha se hande. En ons het veilig gevoel, daar waar ons in my oupa se agterjaart gewoon het. Die naaste township was Atlantis, 40 km weg. In 1979 word P.W. Botha president en die oorlog teen Kommunisme in Angola, wat reeds in 1975 met Operasie Savanna begin het, word feller.
In 1990 gaan ek hoër skool toe, Nelson Mandela word vrygelaat en in Desember 1992 word brigadier-generaal Wouter Basson uit die weermag ontslaan op grond van die verskaffing van gifstowwe aan weermagmoordbendes.
Die woonstelblok waar my stem breek, is in Koebergweg. In die winter van my st. 6-jaar jaag die noordwestewind swart stormwolke oor die baai terwyl ek van my kamer op die vierde verdieping afkyk op swart werkers in die stalle van die Milnerton-renbaan, wat sinkplate in Pick 'n Pay-trollies aanry om hulle plakkerskamp, Cukutown, op 'n sandstrook te bou. Hoog op die vierde verdieping, "hoog" op Ecstasy, kyk ek op hulle neer. Soos op miere.
In 1997 word Basson, 'n kardioloog by die Pretoriase Akademiese Hospitaal, in die park buite sy Magnoliadalse woning in hegtenis geneem. TV-nuus wys 'n swart vullissak met duisend Ecstasy-tablette in die bagasiebak van sy Nissan Sentra. Ná sy inhegtenisneming vind die polisie twee blou staaltrommels in die huis van sy persoonlike bankier, Sam Bosch, met die verlore argiewe van Project Coast, die chemiese en biologiese wapenprojek wat hy in 1981 gevestig het. Dwelmhandel is een van die 67 aanklagte in die klagstaat van 274 bladsye vir die hofsaak wat op 4 Oktober 1999 begin. Ook in die klagstaat is onder meer 14 aanklagte van moord, 16 van sameswering tot moord, 2 van poging tot moord en 1 van aanhitsing tot moord.
Wetenskaplikes van die Roodeplaat-navorsingslaboratorium (RRL), die enigste biologiese laboratorium in die land en onder leiding van Basson, getuig later van navorsing met die senumiddels Sarin, Tabun en VX. Die simptome van dié senumiddel, wat na bewering eers op Frelimo-guerrillas in Mosambiek getoets is, is loopneus, benoude bors, verswakte sig, verkleining van die pupille, moeite met asemhaling, kwyling, buitengewone sweet, naarheid, braking, krampe, onwillekeurige ontlasting en urinering, rukkings, trekkings en steiering, hoofpyn, verwarring, lomerigheid, koma en konvulsies, staking van asemhaling.
Die vel van die dooies was swart.
BRIGADIER-GENERAAL Wouter Basson het in Milnerton grootgeword - nes ek. Milnerton, met sy witgeverfde vuurtoring, sy gholfbaan, strandmeer en uitsig op Robbeneiland, 'n skilderagtige spikkel in Tafelbaai.
Hy was in Milnerton High - nes ek.
Vir seuns wat tussen 1948, toe die Nasionale Party oorgeneem het, en 1990, toe Mandela vrygelaat is, in "wit" voorstede grootgeword het, het die Christelik-Nasionale lewensrites omtrent nie verander nie. In 1990 het ek nog kakie gedra. Ek het gemarsjeer. Ek het die beuel geblaas. Ons kon met redelike gemak in die staatsdiens werk kry: die weermag, die poskantoor, Transnet of die polisie. Ons het dit goed gehad. 'n Ysterp**l. Selfvertroue. Iets om in te glo.
In 1967 was Wouter Basson 'n kadetoffisier. Hy't drie strepe op die skouer gedra, 'n toeknoop-kakiekortbroek, 'n pet met 'n Springbokkie van tin aan die voorkant vasgespeld, 'n wye leergordel van die regterskouer tot op die linkerheup, kniekouse, gepoetste skoene, driehoekvormige epoulette en 'n dik goue koord oor sy bors met tossels wat net bo sy hempsak swaai. Ek en Basson het al twee ons tossels en epoulette op Stigtersdag gedra. Elke September. Die skoolhoof het gestaan tussen die kloktoring se vier pilare: simbole van God die Vader, God die dominee, God die skoolhoof, en God die eerste minister. Vier driehoekige gewels het uitgerys bo ons enkelverdiepinghuise, ons netjiese grasperke, ons dubbelmotorhuise.
Staande, hande langs die sye, het Milnerton High saam gebid: "Our Father, who Art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name," dan in Afrikaans gesing: "Ons vir jou, Suid Afrika." Die Republiekvlag is gesalueer.
Die skool het uitgestroom op die rugbyveld waar gemarsjeer is - twee maal om die atletiekveld, keteltromme roffelend, beuels huilend. Daarna het die meisies 'n demonstrasie gegee van hoe om 'n omelet te maak - Frans, so eksoties - in die huishoudkundeklas, en die staanhorlosies wat die seuns gemaak het, is in die houtwerkblok ten toon gestel. Malende ouers is bedien met tee en sponskoek.
Al word ons deur 'n generasie geskei, hoe is ek anders as brigadier-generaal Wouter Basson as ons dieselfde herinnerings deel? Glo my, Wouter onthou ook daardie koek.
IN DIE JARE sestig was die destydse premier, dr. Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, die hoëpriester van "braaivleis, rugby, sonneskyn en Chevrolet". Die lewe was goed. Wouter se pa, 'n polisieman, is bevorder. Hy't in 'n Dakota geklim en van Ysterplaat na Voortrekkerhoogte, die militêre basis in Pretoria, gevlieg.
Sy seuns het gekyk hoe hy vertrek, daar waar hulle op hulle rug gelê het terwyl hulle opkyk na die lug.
Basson se tienerore het begin bak staan.
So ook dié van my pa. Hy was 'n Sea Scout en 'n koorseun. Wat ek van my pa weet, is wat ek kan aflei van die uniforms wat hy op foto's dra. Bakore, het hulle hom genoem.
In daardie dekade het daar elke Dinsdag en Donderdag om tienuur die aand twintig Dakotas oor Basson se motorhuisdak gevlieg. Die Kossew-broers het oorgekom om te kyk. Hulle pa was die distriksgeneesheer vir polisie-offisiere en daarom ook die Bassons se huisdokter. Wouter het ure deurgebring in dr. Kossew se spreekkamer, net 'n entjie af in die straat. Hy wou 'n dokter word.
In die parlement het Verwoerd sy loopbaan op beleidsvoorskrifte gebou: "Daar is geen plek vir die Bantoe in die wit gemeenskap bo 'n sekere arbeidsvlak nie." En advertensies soortgelyk aan Omo-waspoeier is in die Argus geplaas vir Riotrol - "When dusted on the streets it has an 'instant banana peel' effect on rioting crowds."
IN 1960 IS 69 SWART MENSE in Sharpeville geskiet omdat hulle hul pasboeke verbrand het. In 1965 is Milnerton wit verklaar. Kotze, die burgemeester, was woedend: "Waar moet Milnerton, die munisipaliteit wat die vinnigste uitbrei, wat geen Kleurlinglokasie het nie, nou sy arbeid vandaan kry?" skryf hy aan die koerant. "Veral in die lig van die regering se beleid van geen Bantoes in die Wes-Kaap nie?"
Minstens een beroemde "Bantoe" het toe in die Wes-Kaap gewerk, maar niemand in Milnerton het sy naam gehoor nie. Van die strand kon ons Robbeneiland sien. My oupagrootjie het poskaarte verkoop - wat hy self geverf het - van 'n Engelse meisie met 'n serp wat wit lelies pluk op Robbeneiland, Tafelberg in die agtergrond. Stof van die kalksteen in die groef waarin Mandela sedert 1963 gewerk het, het sy traankliere verstop.
Aan die einde van die jare sestig het my pa 18 geword. My oupa het hom vir 'n dop gevat na sy plaaslike watergat, die Killarney. Dit was die eerste keer dat hulle alleen saam was om te kon gesels. Maar hulle is vroeg huis toe. My pa is later "Parabats" toe, die valskermbataljon waar hy twee jaar lank opgelei sou word.
Wouter Basson is van Milnerton na die Universiteit van Pretoria om medies te gaan studeer. Hy't sy meestersgraadtesis oor slaapsiekte geskryf. My pa het hom by die Milnertonse mensereddersklub aangesluit, sy hart aan die Here gegee en 'n prediker geword. Barry Kossew, Wouter se kindervriend, het 'n hematoloog by die Groote Schuur-hospitaal geword. Hy bestudeer bloed.
In daardie jare het Barry Kossew se pa 'n pasiënt gehad wat 'n parlementêre bode was. Hy was siek, het Dimitrios Tsafendas gesê, en om 'n oorlogpensioen aansoek gedoen. In sy legger het dr. Kossew een woord in potlood gekrabbel: "Skisofrenies". Op 6 September 1966, om 14:15, het dieselfde vet man met die wilde boskaas sy mes weggesink in die skouer, arm, ribbe en hart van Hendrik Verwoerd. Sy ma was 'n bruin huishulp.
In 'n agterkamer in die Groote Schuur-hospitaal lig Barry Kossew in sy wit jas my in dat sy gesin al sy pa se vergeelde mediese leggers weggegooi het. Dit was sinloos om dit te hou. Sy pa was dood.
Maar ek het bly soek - na die "hoekom" van Milnerton, na die een woord in potlood in die kantlyn wat die raaisel kon verklaar: die patologie van 'n buurt. Want in Milnerton is Wouter saam met ons agter die Mr Spike-veiligheidsheining toegesluit. Ons sien sy gesig in die skoon chloorwater van ons swembad. Die ore van ons kinders staan bak. Wouter Basson is een van ons.
IN MILNERTON HIGH se jaarboek van 1967, die jaar waarin Basson matriek skryf, is 'n volbladadvertensie van 'n seun met muisvaal hare wat in sy skoolbaadjie voor sy lessenaar sit. Sy oë is toe, sy boek voor hom oop. Hy droom. Agter hom frons die onderwyser met die teruggekamde hare en horingraambril, hande op die heupe. In 'n ballonnetjie bo die seun se kop is hy in polisie-uniform, sy regterhand in saluut, palm oop teen die pet. Die seun - sy gesiggie soos 'n stralekrans, kyk boontoe.
Ná die inhegtenisneming van Wouter Basson in 1997 op aanklag van poging tot die verkoop van 1 040 Ecstasy-tablette aan 'n polisie-informant in Magnoliadal, vind die speurders staaltrommels met dokumente wat verwys na die vervaardiging - by Delta G Scientific, die wetenskaplaboratorium onder Wouter se bestuur - van 'n miljoen kapsules. Een ton Ecstasy.
Op die nag van die somersonkeerpunt in 1999 stroom 'n horde wit Milnertonse jong mense in die rigting van swiepende laserstrale wat oor die lip van 'n verlate gruisgroef in Silwerstroom naby Koeberg se kragsentrale speel en 'n battery luidsprekers wat frenetiese bliepgeluide uitstuur. Ons sluit ons by nog 10 000 wit mense aan vir die Vortex-partytjie, dansend en wiegend en stampend in 'n saamgekoekte massa regdeur die lang nag - met hande vol Ecstasy wat ons afsluk met bottels mineraalwater - tot lank ná sonop terwyl ons drome in newels verdwyn…
In 'n navorsingstudie wat in Kaapstad gedoen is met die titel "Users' Explanations of their Psychoactive Substance Use, with a Particular Focus on MDMA" ondervra Sarah Zettler van die Universiteit van Kaapstad tien wit mense wat deel geword het van die rave-kultuur wat kort ná die vrylating van Mandela in die voorstede posgevat het. Deelnemer 7 praat van " 'n gevoel dat ons almal deel is van 'n familie wat saam hierby betrokke is". Deelnemer 8 beskryf sy eerste ervaring van Ecstasy as " 'n wonderlike gevoel van samehorigheid", en deelnemer 9 onthou die gevoel van "om deel te wees van iets groters".
"Ek bedoel, dis net kinders," sê deelnemer 9, "wat 'n soort struktuur probeer vind waarby hulle kan inpas wanneer die bestaande strukture geen sin meer het nie".
Hoe kan jong wit mense aanspraak maak op wortels in Afrika as ons nie ons verlede kan vertrou nie?
AS KIND het my pa my op staptogte diep in die Sederberge gevat. Op die plaas Kromrivier is 'n uitgebreide grot, deur die wind gebeitel uit die sedimentêre gesteente. Dit staan bekend as die Stadsaal. Name is met spuitverf op die mure geskryf, vroeg in die vorige eeu, met beitels en houtskool. Ons het nie veel gepraat nie. Ek en my pa het ons flitslig in stilte oor die rots laat speel. My pa het af en toe sy lig laat stilstaan op name van die Nasionale Party-binnekring wat soms daar vergader het.
In Adderleystraat, die polsende hoofslagaar van Kaapstad, is 'n eetplek, Off Moroka. Dis besprinkel met neo-Afrika motiewe: sebrapatrone en rietmatjies en reënboë in die vensters. Op die eiergeel mure is graffiti van klante - meestal ouer anti-apartheidsaktiviste wat nou in die Parlement sit. Regter Albie Sachs van die konstitusionele hof het met sy linkerhand geteken. In groen viltpen het dr. Desmond Tutu, voormalige aartsbiskop van Kaapstad, laat weet hy hou van hulle muffins.
In Junie 1998, tien verdiepings hoër op in die toringgebou langsaan, was Tutu voorsitter van die Waarheids-en-versoeningskommissie se verhore oor Project Coast. Die WVK was op die punt om sy verrigtinge af te sluit omdat die spertyd van die mandaat om apartheidsmisdade te ondersoek sonder om te vervolg, aangebreek het. Tutu was moeg, oorweldig deur die gruwels wat hy oor soveel maande moes aanhoor.
Wouter Basson het nie om amnestie aansoek gedoen nie en geweier om by die verhoor te getuig. Hy wou nie sy hangende strafverhoor benadeel nie - politieke amnestie sou nie die aanklagte van bedrog teen die regering ná Mandela se vrylating uitwis nie. Basson is gedagvaar om te getuig, en 72 uur voordat die WVK se bevoegdheid om hom te dwing om te praat sou verstryk, het hy opgedaag, geklee in 'n dashiki, die Wes-Afrikaanse oorhemp wat Mandela so graag op TV dra.
In sy pers kleed, met pers kalotjie en kruis al swaaiende teen sy bors, het Tutu die verhoor met gebed geopen. Tutu het eerste die ondervraer, mnr. Vally, aangespreek: "There was a question about how old he was. I don't know whether you are going to pursue that question?" Voordat Vally kon antwoord, het Basson van sy bank af opgestaan en na die mikrofoon gestap: "Dit is my geheim," sê hy, in Afrikaans. In die oorfone wat oor sy kalotjie geklamp was, hoor Tutu die blikkerige stem van die vertaler: "That is my secret."
Terwyl ek die getuienis van Wouter Basson lees, maande nadat die WVK sy werk afgehandel het en ontbind is, dink ek aan my pa wat sy flitslig in stilte op die mure van die Stadsaal skyn. Die woorde: "Dit is my geheim" was soos doringdraad waaraan my oë telkens vasgehaak het as ek die bladsy probeer oorsteek. Trouens, ek het toe minder van my pa geweet as van Wouter Basson.
Sy werknemers by die Roodeplaat-navorsingslaboratorium en Delta G Scientific het die laaste twee maande getuig dat Project Coast antraks, builepes, cholera, tallium, en botulinum opgegaar het; navorsing gedoen het oor teenvrugbaarheidsmiddels, die onrusbeheer-potensiaal van Ecstasy; en sambrele, ringe, wandelstokke en skroewerdraaiers vervaardig het wat mikrogifstowwe kan uitskiet.
Dieselfde aand, in Off Moroka, het Basson drankies gedrink saam met 'n joernalis van die SABC. Die dokter met die bles kop en dashiki het by 'n tafel naby die kombuis se swaaideur gesit-lê. Sy blou oë was bloedbelope. Sy strafsaak sou oor minder as 'n jaar begin. Een van die aanklagte waarop hy sou moes antwoord, was die ophang van 'n bobbejaanfetus in Tutu se tuin.
Nadat hy 'n tequila afgesluk het, het Basson homself opgehys en op sy rottangstoel gaan staan. Hoog bo die name van Sachs en Tutu het hy in bloedrooi vetkryt geskryf:
DIS NAG, 1979. Mnr. K is die vlieënier wanneer die vliegtuig - met sy agterdeur verwyder - op 'n hoogte van 12 000 voet oor die rimpelende sandduine van die Namib-woestyn skeer. In die ruim is verskeie lyksakke, die swart mans binne-in steeds by hulle bewussyn, maar bewegingloos, hulle longe stadig aan die ingee. Mnr. K het hulle opgelaai by 'n afgeleë lugmagbasis in die woestyn, waar sy medevlieënier, Johan Theron, hulle met 'n oordosis van die spierverslapper Tubarine en Scoline ingespuit het. Negentig seemyle van die Skedelkus stoot Theron die lyksakke uit oor die Atlantiese Oseaan.
Die waarheid bo alles.
Tussen 2 en 4 Mei 2000 beskryf Mnr. K (sy identiteit is deur die hof beskerm) en daarna Johan Theron aan regter Willie Hartzenberg, wat in die verhoor van Wouter Basson voorsit, hoe die leër se spesiale magte van "honderde" oorlogsgevangenes ontslae geraak het nadat hulle ondervra is, óf wanneer die detensiekampe te vol geraak het.
Die gevangenes was lede van die South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo), die swartbevrydingsbeweging en toekomstige regering van Namibië. In 1979 was Namibië nog 'n Suid-Afrikaanse administrasiegebied, en die poging om hulle opstand te onderdruk, het tot 'n guerrilla-oorlog gegroei. Een van die bevindings van die WVK was dat meer menseregteskendings buite Suid-Afrika se grense gepleeg is as daarbinne.
Theron het aanvanklik die gevangenes verwurg, het hy getuig, totdat Wouter Basson, 'n gekwalifiseerde kardioloog in die Sewende Mediese Bataljon, hom gewys het hoe om die spierverslappers (wat gewoonlik vir opehartoperasies gebruik word en wat hy aan die spesmagte gegee het) in te spuit.
Hulle getuienis was nutteloos as bewysmateriaal. Die regter het reeds in die tweede week van die verhoor bevind dat Basson nie skuldig bevind kan word aan moorde wat buite Suid-Afrika se grense - dus buite die regsgebied van die hof - gepleeg is nie. Namibië was nie meer deel van Suid-Afrika nie.
Ses van die moordaanklagte teen Wouter Basson - waarby onder meer die besmetting van die watervoorraad van 'n Swapo-kamp met cholera - is laat vaar.
Die advokaat vir die staat, Anton Ackermann, het daarna vergeefs probeer om die regter uit die verhoor te verwyder op grond daarvan dat hy simpatiek sou wees teenoor die beskuldigde, Wouter Basson.
Regter Hartzenberg is die broer van die KP-leier dr. Ferdi Hartzenberg, maar deel van die ooreenkoms wat apartheid beëindig het ná Mandela se vrylating, is dat wit regters nie vervolg sou word nie.
Ná dertig maande het regter Hartzenberg, wat elke Donderdag afgeneem het om gholf te speel, Basson vrygespreek op al 61 oorblywende aanklagte. Terwyl hy sy uitspraak (vol spelfoute) van 1 453 bladsye op 11 April 2002 voorgelees het, sê regter Hartzenberg op rekord dat hy Basson se getuienis verkies bo dié van die 153 staatsgetuies. Daarna beskryf die regter Project Coast as 'n fenomenale sukses waarvan die prestasies 'n nasionale bate is wat vir die nageslag bewaar moet word.
Nog voordat Hartzenberg sy bladsye neergesit het, vra die staat verlof tot appèl. Maar Hartzenberg weier. Een van die langste - en teen R20 miljoen een van die duurste - verhore in Suid-Afrika se geskiedenis was, vir eers, afgehandel. Die finale onuitwisbare indruk was 'n ry voormalige Suid-Afrikaanse weermaggeneraals wat agter in die hof staan en hande klap.
As 'n vry man het Wouter Basson se naam uit die koerantopskrifte verdwyn. Die gedreun van die swaargelaaide vliegtuie 12 000 voet bo die woestyn het vervaag. Toe eers het ek weer aan die jong seun gedink wat snags, op die dak van sy Milnertonse motorhuis, gelê en kyk het hoe die militêre vliegtuie met die generaals aan boord oor sy kop tussen die sterre in verdwyn. Waar eindig hy? En waar begin ek? My aantekeninge vir hierdie storie het ek weggegooi. Al wat ek nog het, is 'n foto van Wouter Basson wat die neus van 'n vliegtuig soen. Ek proe nou nog die metaal teen my tong.
06-20-2005, 04:36 AM #23
Frikkie, soos ek verstaan was jy in 32 Battalion, hulle was ook bekend as die berigte Executive Outcomes, van wie het julle opdragte uitgevoer.
Executive Outcomes, the now defunct mercenary firm based in Pretoria, South Africa, that was manned mostly by former members of the South African Defense Force, proved to be a decisive factor in the outcome of some civil wars in Africa. Involved in forcing rebels to the negotiating table in Sierra Leone and more well-known for contributing to the Angolan government's success in forcing UNITA to accept the Lusaka Protocol in 1994, Executive Outcomes reportedly had a web of influence in Uganda, Botswana, Zambia, Ethiopia, Namibia, Lesotho and South Africa.
Even though the firm's expertise lay in fighting bush wars, it diversified and reportedly operated as many as 32 companies, whose interests range from computer software to adult education. The firm's tactic of quickly regaining control of a client country's mineral-rich regions is well-documented. Within a month of Sierra Leone's hiring of Executive Outcomes in May 1995, government forces had regained control of the diamond-rich Kono district, which produces two-thirds of Sierra Leone's diamonds. In Angola, oil- and diamond-producing regions were the first areas secured by government forces trained by Executive Outcomes. The firm also reportedly mined gold in Uganda, drilled boreholes in Ethiopia and had a variety of interests in the other countries noted above.
Executive Outcomes claimed that its sole purpose was to bring stability to the region by supporting legitimate governments in their defense against armed rebels. Nevertheless, rumors persisted that the firm was connected to either the South African DeBeers Diamond Corporation or the South African government. These claims were denied by all parties, and the South African government tried to restrict Executive Outcomes' business ventures.
The intermixing of paramilitary and commercial ventures made it difficult to determine the number of mercenaries involved in various countries. Most reports indicated there were between 150 and 200 in Sierra Leone, while reports from Angola varied, indicating between 500 and 4,000 members in that country.
06-20-2005, 04:39 AM #24
06-20-2005, 01:58 PM #25
Michelle, hoekom plaas jy dit? Die volgende stelling is maar net een voorbeeld van 'n leuen:
.... IN 1960 IS 69 SWART MENSE in Sharpeville geskiet omdat hulle hul pasboeke verbrand het. In 1965 is Milnerton wit verklaar. .....
06-21-2005, 09:26 AM #26
When Dimitri Tsafendas was a young boy in Mozambique it was discovered that he had a giant tapeworm. A Portuguese chemist gave Dimitri’s Greek stepmother a powerful poison to help expel the worm and told her to keep its head for him to study. Dimitri passed the worm, which was two or three metres long, but panicked because his stepmother flushed it into the sewers - still alive, he believed.
Years later, in Cape Town, Dimitri went into a store and bought a large knife. A few hours later he went to work. He was 48-years-of age, had an IQ of 125 and could speak eight languages, but as a designated ‘coloured’ person he worked as a uniformed parliamentary messenger in the all-white House of Assembly.
That afternoon Prime Minister Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid who was responsible for the Sharpeville massacre, was exchanging greetings with those around him as he made his way towards the green leather benches. Dimitri briskly walked from the lobby entrance across the floor to where Verwoerd had sat down, drew his knife and stabbed Verwoerd four times in the chest. Other members of parliament rushed forward and overpowered the court messenger. Mrs Verwoerd ran down from the wives’ gallery and kissed her husband as doctors tried to save his life but he was dead on arrival at hospital. It was September 6th, 1966.
Verwoerd had survived an earlier assassination attempt and believed that God had intervened to save his life, which indicates that he was slightly mad.
Within days of Dimitri’s arrest stories appeared in the media claiming that he told police that a giant tapeworm ordered him to assassinate Verwoerd. One psychiatrist quoted him as saying, "I don’t think I will be able to live in Cape Town after this, because of public opinion, you know… If I was ever offered a job in the House of Assembly again I do not think I would be able to face up to it."
South African blacks who should have been dancing in the streets at the assassination did not know how to respond to this killing by a loner, who had no party political ties and who was described as just a crazy Greek.
For a living I write and review books, some of which are interesting, others boring. My next read, I am looking forward to. It is called, ‘A Mouthful of Glass’ by Henk Van Woerden, and it is about the life of Dimitri Tsafendas and is a blend of biography and fiction.
Tsafendas was born in Mozambique, the son of a marine engineer of Greek extraction and a mother of mixed race, whom his father disowned and he never knew. He was sent to live with his grandmother in Egypt but she died when he was six and he returned to Mozambique where his father had remarried. At school he was nicknamed, ‘Blackie’ because of his skin. Later, he found out that he was ‘coloured’ and illegitimate.
In 1936 he moved to South Africa, was a member of the Communist Party for a while, then joined the Merchant Navy and travelled the world. His mental instability was apparent and he ended up being deported or spending time in various psychiatric institutions. One report speaks of him hearing voices from hospital radiators.
In 1964 he returned to Africa, first to Mozambique to try to identify his mother and find her grave, before settling in the Cape.
After his arrest he told police, "I was so disgusted by the racial policy that I went through with my plan to kill the prime minister." A judge found that he was unfit to stand trial and committed him. But instead of being sent to a mental hospital, the government exploited a loophole in the law and he was placed in death row for twenty-three years. There, warders urinated in his food and beat him while he was held in a strait-jacket. They destroyed the only photograph he had of himself as a child. His cell was next to the gallows where his fellow prisoners in batches of up to seven at a time where hanged. He heard their last screams and cries.
It was only in July 1994 that he was moved to a lower-security prison for infirm men. In recent years he was interviewed by two people: David Beresford (who wrote ‘Ten Men Dead’) and Henk Van Woerden. Woerden says that at one stage there was such a racket in the ward that their exchanges had to be written on a pad. He says that Tsafendas wrote in untidy, block letters: ‘I REGRET WHAT HAPPENED.’
"He began to cry. I took both his shoulders in my hands and shouted as loudly as I could: ‘Never mind. Other times. Not your fault.’ ‘A whole other time,’ he sobbed. ‘I am not that kind of person. It was something that happened. It was not in my nature. Besides, I was sick… It will not die. I’m helpless against this Dragon-Tapeworm.’"
Dimitri also asked him who was the president of South Africa now. "I wrote the name ‘Mandela’ and showed it to him. ‘Nelson Mandela…? I would like to speak to him. He’s a very strong man.’"
Dimitri Tsafendas died aged 81, a year ago this month, from pneumonia. About ten people, mostly members of the Greek community, spared him a pauper’s funeral and gave him a proper burial. No one from the ANC attended, even though he had struck a significant blow against apartheid. He was buried quietly in Krugersdorp.
One card on a wreath of white lilies on his grave read: "Displaced person, sailor, Christian, communist, liberation fighter, political prisoner, hero. Remembered by your friends."
06-21-2005, 09:30 AM #27
Tsafendas was the parliamentary messenger who assassinated Prime Minister HF Verwoed, by stabbing him four times with a dagger, during a parliamentary session in 1966. Born in Lorenco Marques (present day Maputo), Tsafendas was the illegitimate son of a Greek father and a Mozambican mother. As a young boy he was shunned by the White community and was nicknamed “blackie”, due to his wavy hair and dark skin. He had lived in Germany, Canada, the United States, Greece, France, Turkey, Portugal, Iran, Ghana and Angola. At his trial for the assassination of the prime minister, he was found to be insane and declared a State President’s prisoner.
06-21-2005, 09:32 AM #28
Hero and martyr for the cause of the South African People.
Imprisonned in 1966 for having killed, in Parliament, the South African Prime Minister, racist idéologist and pro-Hitler militant, Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd.
For four years he had been tortured seven times a day...
I met him in 1972, he was in the next cell at the Pretoria prison known as "Maximum" or "Berverly Hills". This is where the hangings took place. He was detained as the "State President's patient", which ment complete isolation.
He let himself be considered insane to save his life. But at a moment of confidence he told me in Greek with a little smile of pride: "I got their tough guy".
During the great demonstrations in 1976, it was chanted:
"TSAFENDAS INYANGA YEZIZWE" (Tsafendas healer of the nation)
I saw him again in 1996, he was still behing bars, and I imagine this is where he stayed until the end. When I saw him with my wife, we talked in French, Greek, English and Arabic. He originated for the island of Crete and spent a time in El Atarin in Egypt. He was a quarter Moçambican.
He died in october 1999 and it is only now, in February 2000, that I learnt of his death.
When we had seen him we asked him what he wished. He answered "I want my freedom!"
I regret not having done better for him to get out of there. He deserved a better liberty than the one he got.
06-21-2005, 10:19 AM #29
06-21-2005, 10:25 AM #30
Under the direction of Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has investigated crimes of both the apartheid-era government and Marxist African National Congress.
Many white Afrikaners consider the trials to be nothing more than "witch hunts," aimed at demoralizing the Afrikaner remnant in the nation. ANC supporters claim the trials are needed so that all South Africans can move into a new era with a clear conscience.
The disclosure of one of those right-wing crimes occurred when Gen. Christoffel van der Westhuizen, the former chief of South Africa's military intelligence branch, stood trial before the TRC for ordering the execution of a black campaigner against apartheid.
Nyameka Goniwe, the widow of the man van der Westhuizen had ordered to be killed, spoke of finding her husband's scorched body lying on a bleak prairie. At a break in the TRC proceedings, van der Westhuizen approached Ms. Goniwe and said, "Don't blame me for what happened."
"I understand," she replied to the general. "But where was your heart?"
The testimony of van der Westhuizen before the TRC was groundbreaking. It provided the first evidence that there existed under the apartheid government a covert military unit tasked with the termination of anti-apartheid activists. Goniwe's case clearly demonstrated that the chain of command for terminations went from the cabinet-level State Security Council of the ruling apartheid government down through the generals and finally to their officially-sanctioned secret hit squads.
Wider reaching yet were the assassinations of more than 200 anti-apartheid activists overseas by the shadowy Civil Cooperation Bureau, or CCB. Operating with a global reach, the CCB set up front companies in Western Europe to beat U.N. anti-apartheid sanctions -- even managing to import sensitive materials needed to build several atomic bombs. Assassination, however, was what it did best.
One particular assassination of note is subject to great debate even now. On the day Mandela was inaugurated as president of South Africa in 1994, Sweden sent a team of intelligence experts to gather evidence of what they believe was the murder of Prime Minister Olaf Palme by the Civil Cooperation Bureau. The man accused of killing Palme on Feb. 28, 1986, is a Swedish man named Christer Pettersson. Pettersson was identified at the scene of the murder by Palme's wife Lisbet -- who claimed he shot her husband. Pettersson, now 50 years old, was convicted of murder in 1989. Four months later, however, Pettersson was acquitted for lack of evidence.
A Stockholm police spokesman contacted by WorldNetDaily said, "Christer Pettersson was attacked by a man aged about 35 and under the influence of alcohol. The attacker stabbed Mr. Pettersson multiple times with a knife. He was suffering from heavy hemorrhaging after suffering several stab wounds to the chest. As far as I know, he was admitted to the hospital and was in serious condition. Yet he survived."
"This is the classic CCB method of assassination -- recruiting a committed foreigner to carry out the termination, then either kill off or jail or discredit the recruited assassin," said Garth Volk, a South African policeman with the intelligence branch.
"No one is putting together all the pieces. First, Olaf Palme, a top European ANC supporter, was murdered. Second, the links to the European Union elite and the ANC are very old and very strong. Third, how could Pettersson have been identified at the scene by Palme's wife, convicted in court and then acquitted? Fourth, why did the Swedish intelligence people come to South Africa on the day Mandela was inaugurated to conduct further investigation? Fifth, why has Pettersson been the victim of a murder attempt on his life? ... The CCB allowed too much circumstantial evidence to surface and one day some brave soul will put all the pieces together."
"Hani has run ANC terrorist groups in Lesotho and also was a soldier for Mugabe's Marxist takeover in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. He ordered many terrorist acts. Hani lived by the sword and so it is only fitting that he died by the sword," said Volk.
"In the early '90s, over 363 people died while in police custody," added the South African policeman. "And hundreds of white police were killed by the ANC. So it has been madness, back and forth with all the killing. And it still hasn't stopped. In fact, it's getting worse by the day."
Clive Derby-Lewis, a former parliament member of the Conservative Party, was arrested, convicted and jailed for his involvement with the Hani assassination. WorldNetDaily has learned that Derby-Lewis took over the leadership of the so-called Western Goals Institute from Roberto D'Aubission, the notorious leader of the Mano Blanco "White Hand" death squad in El Salvador. D'Aubission was accused of killing liberal Archbishop Oscar Romero for his alleged support of the communist insurgency in Central America.
South African Intelligence sources told WorldNetDaily that Romero was assassinated in 1980 as "the quid pro quo for the assassination of the South African ambassador to El Salvador." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, South Africa was actively arming the right wing in Taiwan and Central America against the communists.
"I know Chris Hani killed many people, but it was wrong to assassinate him," said Mrs. P.P. Pretorius, a former leader of the South African Conservative Party.
Says Peter Hammond of South Africa's missionary group Frontline Fellowship, "I once met Hani. I told him nicely that terrorism and murder were wrong. In response, he starting cursing that there was no God."
Before his death in 1993, Hani seemed to soften his tone. For example, he told Newsweek writer Joe Contreras: "Whether we like it or not, whites are South Africans like ourselves. They took power away from us and oppressed us, but we didn't get into the struggle to destroy the white group. We want to convince whites that democracy is better than apartheid and that they will continue having a better life and a more normal life. I live in a conservative part of Johannesburg called Boksburg, and my kids have not been harassed. I've had no problems. I'm an optimist, and it may take some time, but political democracy will triumph."
Adds Pretorius: "Murder is wrong. It is not Christian. And killing Hani did not stop the communists from taking over our nation anyway. You can kill a person, but you can't kill the wickedness of their ideas if millions of others are willing to pick up the banner. We can't call Hani a murderer, then commit murder ourselves. That is hypocritical. What are we fighting for as Afrikaners? Basically, it comes down to one thing. Will the white race join the multicultural world or do we want to continue our own culture and traditions?"
Willem Ratte, a former South African Special Forces soldier and the leader of the Afrikaner patriot movement, told WorldNetDaily: "The Afrikaner is not a terrorist. He will not fight unless it is under his own elected leaders, wearing a uniform and with specific goals in mind."
Van Breda admitted that Col. Lourens du Plessis has supplied him with more than one million rand for Christian youth outreach projects in the eastern Cape province between 1987 and 1991. Du Plessis was also implicated as the officer who sent the "permanently remove" message on behalf of van der Westhuizen in regard to the termination of Matthew Goniwe. Du Plessis, in fact, confirmed the authenticity of van der Westhuizen's order for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and said he "understood it to mean Mr. Goniwe and others should be killed."
At that time, de Klerk said, "We are not dealing with children. We are dealing with well-trained people who are taking constant precautions against being caught."
Apartheid being set up in UK? Scotland88 Round Table 1 04-23-2004 06:13 AM