TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 3

Chapter 6

Subsection 22

Bombing of strategic targets

250. After a period of relative calm on the right-wing front between 1991 and 1993, acts of sabotage and bombings resumed in late 1993, this time with the explicit aim of derailing the election process.

251. The AWB, BWB and AVF all engaged in bombing campaigns in the pre-election period. The AWB targeted cities while the AVF focused on rural areas. Fro m amnesty applications, it appears that AWB members had a ‘conventional war’ in mind with a view to overthrowing the former NP government and converting South Africa to a B o e re Republiek. The express aim was to create secession in certain regions and finally to take over the government with ‘military violence’. This would happen in three phases:

• a A propaganda campaign inside and outside the country to prepare the ground for a revolution – to create unrest and dissatisfaction with the government and gain support for the revolution.
• b A subversion of the authority of the government, the creation of weapons and food caches and reconnaissance of the terrain.
• c Action by guerrilla fighters; simultaneously sabotage, terror, uprising, strikes, assassinations would be committed to propel the government into as much social and political chaos as possible.

252. Bombing sprees were simply campaigns of terror. The Committee heard that the primary objective of these campaigns was the establishment of a volkstaat. The strategy adopted was to bomb state property as well as residential areas, offices and facilities used by ANC supporters in order to force the then government to acknowledge the struggle for a volkstaat and to impress upon the ANC the seriousness of the right wing’s intentions in obtaining a volkstaat, thereby strengthening the hands of the Volksfront leaders at the Codesa negotiations.

253. Many of these acts did not lead to loss of life, although some deaths and injuries were recorded.

254. Following the announcement that the Group Areas Act was to be repealed, as well as an earlier announcement on the removal of racial barriers in schools, a number of schools were destroyed in a series of bomb blasts. For example, a formerly white school in Pretoria where ANC exiles’ children were to be accommodated was the target of two bomb attacks. Various radical right wing groups simultaneously claimed responsibility.

Attacks in the Lowveld

255. CP members, Mr Jan Petrus Kruger [AM2734/96], Mr Daniel Benjamin Snyders [AM0073/96] and Marthinus Christoffel Ras [AM2735/96] applied for amnesty for a series of sabotage attacks in Lowveld during 1991 and 1992, including:

256. An explosion at the Sabie Magistrate’s Court on 20 December 1991 in which Kruger and Ras argued that they had acted on the instructions of a member of Toekomsgesprek leadership, Mr Douw Steyn, conveyed to them by Snyders. The explosives used were manufactured by Snyders. The buildings were damaged but no deaths or injuries resulted from the explosion. The applicants were facing a charge of sabotage pursuant to this incident at the time of their amnesty hearing.

257. An explosion at the Lowveld High School in Nelspruit on 1 January 1992 in which Kruger and Ras again argued that they had acted on the instructions of Douw Steyn as conveyed by Snyders. The building was damaged. The applicants were facing a charge of sabotage for the incident at the time of their amnesty hearing.

258. An explosion at the Nelspruit Agricultural Colleged during the period 14 to 15 March 1992, causing damage to the property. The attack was launched on the instructions of Douw Steyn. Snyders manufactured the explosives and gave them to another member of Toekomsgesprek who executed the actual attack. Snyders was facing criminal charges as well as a civil claim for the incident.

259. An explosion at the Lowveld High School on 16 March 1992, after a gardener at the school discovered and handled an explosive device found in the grounds of the premises. The gardener, Mr Chashasa Andries Sithole, was killed in the explosion and another person, Mrs Sophie Mashaba, was injured. Snyders had planted explosive devices at the school during the period 14 to 15 March 1992, with the intention that they detonate simultaneously with explosives placed at Nelspruit Agricultural College. All reasonable steps were taken to avoid any loss of life or injuries in the operation. The explosives were primed to detonate at 03h00 when no one would be present on the school premises. Unbeknownst to Snyders and due to some defect in the detonator, the devices did not explode simultaneously. Snyders and his colleagues were shocked at the death and injury that resulted. He expressed remorse at the consequences of the explosion. Snyders said he had acted on the instructions of Douw Steyn in placing the explosives at the school. He was facing various criminal charges including murder and attempted murder as well as a civil claim for the incident.

260. Subsequent to the arrest of applicants, the police discovered various arms caches on farms in the vicinity of Nelspruit and Sabie. One of the farms belonged to Kruger. Various charges were brought against the applicants as a result. The arms and explosives in question had been stockpiled on the instructions of the leadership of Toekomsgesprek in accordance with its policy of preparing for armed resistance against the political reforms introduced by the NP government at the time.

261. None of the implicated parties, including Douw Steyn, appeared at the hearing. Only one of the interested parties submitted an affidavit which, to some extent, provided the political context for the incidents and supported the subjective political beliefs of the applicants.

262. The Amnesty Committee was satisfied that the applicants made a full disclosure of all facts relevant to the applications. The Committee accepted that the applicants had acted on the orders of one of their superiors within Toekomsgesprek and that the attacks fell within the policy of that organisation at the time. Although membership and the activities of Toekomsgesprek were secret, the Committee was satisfied that, even if not widely known, it was a publicly known political organisation, independent of the CP, whose policies did not include the kind of offensive, violent actions undertaken by the applicants.

263. Insofar as the death of Mr Sithole and the injuries of Mrs Mashaba were concerned, the Committee took into account that all reasonable steps had been taken to avoid this kind of consequence. In the context of what was patently a political act, the unfortunate death and injury were aberrations which could not reasonably have been avoided. The Committee accepted that the attack was aimed solely at state proper t y, which was seen as representing the applicants’ political foes.

264. Amnesty was granted to Daniel Snyders, Jan Kruger and Marthinus Ras in respect of the respective offences set out in the charge sheet [AC/2000/121].