Right-Wing Groups - South African Government Information

269. The applicant was charged with and convicted of the offences in the Regional
Court in Middelburg. On 4 April 1995 he was sentenced to twelve months
imprisonment, conditionally suspended for five years for the theft of the explosive
material and to five years’ imprisonment, also conditionally suspended for
five years, for the possession of explosive material and the homemade bomb.
270. The applicant testified that his motive for committing the offences was to
enable him to make direct attacks against racially mixed schools and churc h e s
with the view to derailing the govern m e n t ’s democratisation pro c e s s .
271. The Amnesty Committee was satisfied that the offences were committed by the
applicant in the course of the conflicts of the past and with a political objective,
and that the applicant had made full disclosure. Amnesty was granted in chambers.
Explosion in Bronkhorstspruit
272. Two BWB members from Cullinan, Mr Leo Hendrik Froneman [AM0395/96] and
Mr Pieter Johannes Harmse [AM3275/96], also a commander in the BRL, were
jointly convicted for an exposion at an Indian business complex in
B ronkhorstspruit on 17 September 1993. One police off i c e r, Mr Abraham
Labuschagne, died in the explosion and six people were injured. Froneman was
convicted of culpable homicide for which he was sentenced to seven years’
imprisonment. Harmse was convicted of murd e r, attempted murd e r, the unlawful
possession of explosives and malicious damage to property and was sentenced
to an effective eighteen years.
273. The bomb was homemade and one of a series made by the BWB cell. The BWB
planned a coup d’état and a part of their plan entailed interrupting the country’s
power supply. During the amnesty hearing, the applicants handed in a video of
a BWB meeting held in 1993, in which it was said that the party would declare
war against the government which, ‘wanted to hand the country over to the
ANC/SACP alliance’. At other meetings, members were instructed to collect
explosives and create chaos in their own areas.
274. Harmse told the Committee that, in September 1993, he received a telephone
call from the BRL informing him that the war had started. He had been warn e d
at meetings to expect such a message. He instructed Froneman to choose a
t a rget that would involve Muslims, which is why the Indian Shopping Centre at
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