Right-Wing Groups - South African Government Information

318. The surviving victim and those members of the victims’ family who opposed the
application said they believed the applicants had committed the offences in
their personal capacities out of ill-will, malice or spite while under the influence
of intoxicating liquor. There was also insufficient evidence to find that the applicants
were members or supporters of the AWB; that they acted on behalf of or
under orders from the AWB or within their duties as members of that org a n i s a-
tion. It was suggested that this was a spontaneous and poorly planned attack
on a taxi that was not in the vicinity of a polling station.
319. The Committee was satisfied that the applicants could at least have been seen
as supporters of the AWB and believed themselves to be members.
320 . The Committee accepted the uncontradicted evidence that the AWB pro p a g a t e d
the use of violence to resist the ANC winning the election and that it called
upon its members to pre p a re themselves for a state of war. The applicants had
believed that the revolution had begun before consuming liquor on the day in
question. Drunkenness could not there f o re have been the root cause of their
actions, though the consumption of liquor could have provided them with false
courage and was the reason for the sloppy planning and preparation of the
attack. Both the applicants stated that they knew what they were doing. The
fact that the first applicant drove the vehicle without mishap and that the second
applicant accurately aimed the shot he fired indicates that they were not so
drunk as to eliminate their belief that they were acting in support of the AW B .
The fact that the AWB never admitted its involvement in the applicants’ crimes
did not obviate the applicants’ subjective belief that they were acting in support
of AWB when they committed the act.
321. The Amnesty Committee accepted that the applicants were under the
i m p ression that other members of the AWB would, that day, commit acts of violence
in order to cause chaos and so disrupt the elections. They gained this
i m p ression after having heard the report of the bombings on the East Rand and
after their discussion with Du Bruyn. They only learnt after the event that, save
for the bombings on the East Rand, they had acted in isolation. They testified
that they decided to shoot a black man as they were of the opinion that the
vast majority of black people were supporters of the ANC. Their intention was
to commit an act of terror which, together with other such acts committed by
other members of the AWB, would instil fear and result in chaos and anarc h y
and so disrupt the elections.
V O L U M E 6 S E C T I O N 3 C H A P T E R 6 P A G E 5 0 8