African Eye News Service (Nelspruit)
Sizwe Samayende
22 October 2002
Polokwane, South Africa — South Africa's coup-plotting right wingers should leave the country and go live with American racists on a "Ku Klux chicken farm", said the Anti-Racism Movement (ARM) this week
The Polokwane-based anti-racism group in Limpopo was reacting to right-wingers' botched plans to train whites in a military camp in Lichtenburg in the North-West province and prepare for a civil war. ARM founder member Jeanne Nolte said the right-wingers had three options, namely to leave, repent and see the light, or be found guilty of high treason and be jailed for life.
"Our government is faced with serious priorities [like] HIV-Aids, poverty, landlessness and crime," Nolte said. "Why should any of the much needed resources be squandered on investigations, arrests and court cases, which only set our country back financially."
ARM was founded by Nolte, a former journalist, in March 2001 after she witnessed four Afrikaans men beating up a black woman in Pretoria. ARM has members all over the country who boldly display signs on their properties stating: "Right of Admission Reserved. No Racists Allowed."
Nolte said the right-wingers could perhaps find "solace in America on a Klu Klux Chicken farm."
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is an extreme rightwing group of white supremacists famous for wearing white "sheets" and hoods and killing black people in the American south.
Police anti-terrorism investigators are meanwhile on the trail of three Afrikaners believed to be members of the Boeremag group that is suspected of plotting to start a race war and overthrow the democratically elected government.
They seized a truck equipped as a "mobile command" centre in Litchtenburg last month.
The truck, which belongs to alleged ringleader Dr Lets Pretorius, was stocked with ammunition, an AK-47 rifle, radio, medical equipment and food.
The group is alleged to have posted invitations to whites on the outskirts of major cities asking them to join the camp, before police foiled the plan.
Dr Pretorius was arrested last month and police are still on the trail of his 31-year-old son Johannes, also a doctor, Bela-Bela (Warmbaths) farmer Herman van Rooyen and Pretoria businessman and former soldier Thomas Vorster.
The police also discovered a major arms cache on a Modimolle (Nylstroom) farm in Limpopo about two weeks ago.
The cache is also believed to belong to the Boermag group, which unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Sandton in August.
Police have so far arrested 14 men in connection with the coup plot and they 're expected to stand trial on terrorism and treason charges in the Pretoria High Court next year.
National police spokesman Director Phuti Setati said on Thursday that four of the suspects were out on R10 000 bail each.
"The other three are still on the run, but we hope the community will help us to identify them," said Setati said. - African Eye News Service
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