White extremist rides to freedom
Eugene Terre’Blanche, the leader of South Africa’s neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement, was released from prison today where he was serving a five-year sentence for attempted murder and assault.
Terre’Blanche, a white extremist well-known in South African politics for two decades, was paroled after serving three years for the savage beating of one of his black workers for eating at work.
About 400 supporters, including one waving the old apartheid-era South Africa flag, gathered outside the Correction Services office in Potchefstroom and cheered Terre’Blanche when he was released.
Terre’Blanche then mounted a horse and rode a short distance to the Hotel Elgro where he held a news conference.
“I am going to stand, to work, to fight for the safety of my language, my mother tongue,” said Terre’Blanche, who spoke mostly in Afrikaans.
He said he would not go into politics and would instead return to farming.
“I have no intention to go on to Parliament,” said Terre’Blanche.
While in prison for attempted murder and assault, Terre’Blanche pleaded guilty ordering a bombing campaign ahead of South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994 and received a six year suspended sentence.
He had admitted ordering men to carry out bombings in an attempt to sabotage the elections that brought Nelson Mandela to power as the country’s first black president.
The former militant right-winger who once struck a fearsome pose on horseback as he led his uniformed men through the streets, did not apply for amnesty for his crimes before the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Formed to help heal apartheid’s wounds, the Commission, chaired by Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, granted amnesty to perpetrators who disclosed their involvement in politically motivated acts.
Terre’Blanche, who had been described by prison officials as a model prisoner, said he believed his imprisonment helped strengthen his Christian faith.
“I didn’t have to be crucified with nails in order to speak to my God. Instead, I was sent to Rooigrond (Prison) in order to find an speak to my God,” said Terre’Blanche.
