Africa News

South African rightwinger Terreblanche killed (Roundup)

Apr 4, 2010, 9:37 GMT

Right wing Afrikaans leader, Eugene Terreblanche, delivers a speech during a meeting with members of the right wing to discuss the consolidation of right wing resistance. EPA/JOHANN HATTINGH

Johannesburg - South African politicians from across the political spectrum Sunday condemned the murder of white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche and called for restraint.

President Jacob Zuma appealed for calm. The killing should not allow provocateurs to incite or fuel racial hatred, the South African Press Association (SAPA) cited a presidential statement.

The president was 'filled with shock and horror' over the murder, Zuma's spokesman Vusi Mona was quoted as saying by News 24.

Terreblanche, 69, was beaten to death on his farm in Ventersdorp in the north-west of the country on Saturday. The charismatic leader of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement, AWB) was asleep and alone on the farm at the time of the attack, News 24 reported, citing police.

Two farmworkers, aged 21 and 15, were arrested for their alleged involvement into his death, which appeared not have political motives. Police said that the labourers allegedly got into an argument with Terreblanche over unpaid wages.

'Terreblanche was found dead on the bed with facial and head injuries,' the SAPA quoted police spokeswoman Adele Myburgh as saying.

Andre Visagie, an AWB leader, said Terreblanche, who was beaten with pipes, was found at about 6 pm (1600 GMT).

Terreblanche's murder comes as concerns grow about crime in the country ahead of this summer's football world cup. Opposition groups also claim a minority among the ruling African National Congress party is stoking the flames with racist sentiments.

Coming into prominence in the 1980s, Terreblanche championed the minority that was opposed to the end of apartheid.

Visagie said that his group's immediate plans were to make funeral arrangements. Then the AWB would meet to discuss 'how to avenge' Terreblanche's killing, News24 quoted him as saying.

For now, the group was 'trying its best to keep people calm,' AWB said.

Terreblanche's AWB wanted to create self-government for white farmers. He formed the white supremacist group in 1973 to counter growing opposition to South Africa's apartheid rule.

Terreblanche and his views were moved to the sidelines of South African politics in the mid 1990s, but the AWB was revived in 2008.

Opposition leader Helen Zille said that Terreblanche's death will 'inevitably polarize and inflame passions in South Africa at a time when tensions are already high.'

Now, more than ever, people must resist racial polarization, the head of the Democratic Alliance party said.

Freedom Front Plus, a moderate right-wing party protecting Afrikaners' interests, condemned the murder and called on all political leaders to combat violence in South Africa.

'The fact that the murder allegedly followed on a wage dispute between Terreblanche and two of his workers, is not a justification for murder,' SAPA quoted party spokesman Pieter Groenewald as saying. 'If wage disagreements had to be resolved in this manner, South Africa would become a bloodbath.'

Terreblanche's death was a result of people stirring up racial hatred, the Christian Democratic Party said, linking the AWB leader's murder to a string of killings of white farmers.

More than 3,000 white farmers have been killed since the end of apartheid in 1994, the BBC reported.

AfriForum, a non-profit group representing minorities, called on all South Africans to remain calm after the murder.

'These events are a call to all South Africans to come to their senses and to be aware of the extremely polarised and violent circumstances presently prevalent in the country,' AfriForum said.

'We are sad that Mr Terreblanche died in the manner in which he died, murdered in cold blood. Sadly, this is how he killed black defenseless farm workers in Venterdorp,' the leftist Azanian People's Organization said, claiming that Terreblanche got away with murder.

'Here is a man whose entire life was dedicated to seeing black people remaining endlessly dwarfed in the land of their birth; a man who never pretended to be anything but a racist and a murderer,' a party spokesman was quoted as saying by SAPA.