Wisata Garut - By any measure the peaceful transition in South Africa from white minority rule to democracy in the early 1990s was remarkable. Before the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of political organisations – most notably his African National Congress – in early 1990, it had long been feared that the country, which had laboured under the yoke of apartheid for four decades, would explode into a bloody and protracted civil war, so the peaceful transition was in many ways a political miracle.
Eugene Terreblanche, the leader of the radical white supremacist group known as the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (the Afrikaans abbreviation is AWB), was not one of those who helped the process. Indeed, when the then President, FW de Klerk, made the announcement in 1990 that Mandela would be released, Terreblanche had long been a disruptive and dangerous – if somewhat marginalised – presence on the political scene.
He was charismatic, calculating and, some would say, crazy. His organisation's flag looked remarkably like that of Hitler's Nazis and as an orator he shared many traits with the man who sent the world spinning into catastrophic conflict in 1939. He sometimes even used a salute that resembled one used by Hitler.
Although the move to democracy in 1994 and Terreblanche's jailing from 1997 to 2004 for attempted murder and assault had blunted the threat he posed, he revived the AWB in 2008 and was pursuing the cause of white "self-determination".
It's unlikely, then, that, outside the limited white supremacist circle in which he was revered, there will be too many tears shed over Terreblanche's murder at the weekend, reportedly by a young man and a teenager working on his farm, in a dispute over pay. Such disputes are nothing new in South Africa.
What the killing will have given rise to in the Republic, though, is fear – fear that the type of conflict that was so miraculously avoided early in the 1990s might now be unleashed.
Reports of late have indicated there is growing discontent among many black South Africans that, two decades after Mandela's release, their lot has not improved significantly. It's also reported that Julius Malema, the controversial president of the ANC Youth League, has been singing an apartheid-era song urging supporters to "kill the Boer" (farmer), though that has now been banned by the high court as hate speech.
Terreblanche's killing, and the thirst for revenge that could give rise to among his radical followers, combined with the other racial tensions already present, make for a dangerous mix.
Eugene Terreblanche, the leader of the radical white supremacist group known as the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (the Afrikaans abbreviation is AWB), was not one of those who helped the process. Indeed, when the then President, FW de Klerk, made the announcement in 1990 that Mandela would be released, Terreblanche had long been a disruptive and dangerous – if somewhat marginalised – presence on the political scene.
He was charismatic, calculating and, some would say, crazy. His organisation's flag looked remarkably like that of Hitler's Nazis and as an orator he shared many traits with the man who sent the world spinning into catastrophic conflict in 1939. He sometimes even used a salute that resembled one used by Hitler.
Although the move to democracy in 1994 and Terreblanche's jailing from 1997 to 2004 for attempted murder and assault had blunted the threat he posed, he revived the AWB in 2008 and was pursuing the cause of white "self-determination".
It's unlikely, then, that, outside the limited white supremacist circle in which he was revered, there will be too many tears shed over Terreblanche's murder at the weekend, reportedly by a young man and a teenager working on his farm, in a dispute over pay. Such disputes are nothing new in South Africa.
What the killing will have given rise to in the Republic, though, is fear – fear that the type of conflict that was so miraculously avoided early in the 1990s might now be unleashed.
Reports of late have indicated there is growing discontent among many black South Africans that, two decades after Mandela's release, their lot has not improved significantly. It's also reported that Julius Malema, the controversial president of the ANC Youth League, has been singing an apartheid-era song urging supporters to "kill the Boer" (farmer), though that has now been banned by the high court as hate speech.
Terreblanche's killing, and the thirst for revenge that could give rise to among his radical followers, combined with the other racial tensions already present, make for a dangerous mix.
A dangerous mix of tensions
![A dangerous mix of tensions]()
Reviewed by Pakar Pupuk Tanaman
on
April 05, 2010
Rating:
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