Eugène Ney Terre'Blanche (January 31, 1941 – April 3, 2010) was a Boer-Afrikaner and former member of South Africa's Herstigte Nasionale Party who founded the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) during the apartheid era in South Africa. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he became known for threatening civil war to maintain white rule in South Africa.[1] After the country's transition to non-racial democracy, he revised his stance and urged his followers to push for independence in an independent Afrikaner Volkstaat. Terre'Blanche continued to lead the organisation until his death.
Terre'Blanche spent 3 years in prison for assaulting a black petrol station worker and the attempted murder of a black security guard in 1996.
On April 3, 2010, Terre'Blanche was hacked and beaten to death at his farm, allegedly by two of his black labourers.
Contents
* 1 Background
* 2 Political career
o 2.1 Herstigte Nasionale Party
o 2.2 Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
o 2.3 Media image
o 2.4 Amnesty
o 2.5 Later years
* 3 Conviction and prison sentence
* 4 Poet
* 5 Death
The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (English: Afrikaner Resistance Movement) or AWB, is a South African far right secessionist political organisation. It was formed in 1973 by Eugène Terre'Blanche who remained the leader until his murder in 2010. The AWB is committed to the creation of an independent Boer-Afrikaner republic or "Volkstaat/Boerestaat" within South Africa. In their heyday they received much publicity both in South Africa and abroad as a white supremacist and neo-fascist group.[1]
Terre'Blanche was also a poet. Prior to the 1994 multi-racial elections, his Afrikaans-language works were on the state syllabus of Natal schools. Upon his release from jail, he quoted Wordsworth's poem I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud. He had previously released a CD of his poetry collection and most recently a DVD.[28][19]
Death
Terre'Blanche, who had lived in relative obscurity since the collapse of his organisation,[29] was murdered on his farm Villana, just outside of Ventersdorp on April 3, 2010. He was reportedly beaten to death with pipes and pangas (machetes) while napping by two black males aged 21 and 15, allegedly over "a wage dispute". Terre'Blanche's body was found on the bed with facial and head injuries.[30][31][32][33][34][35][36] Ventersdorp police said two suspects were taken into custody over his killing.[37] They have both been charged with murder and are due to appear in court on April 6.[38] South African President Jacob Zuma, who followed up an overnight statement with a televised address[39] called for calm and for "responsible leadership"[39] following the murder, describing it as a "terrible deed";[29][40] and described the murder as "cowardly".[41] Zuma's words were echoed by the AWB and organisations including AfriForum and Solidarity. Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa Commissioner of police, Bheki Cele and other high ranking police officials [39] visited Terre'Blanche's family in Ventersdorp the morning after the murder, in order to express sympathy with his family.[42][43] The murder took place in the midst of a racial controversy in South Africa involving the singing of a song by African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema[29][29][39] that includes the lyrics "Shoot the Boer".[44][43] The ANC, which had previously defended its right to sing the song, announced that it would consider a moratorium on the singing of the song, following the murder, in the interests of national cohesion.[39] The murder would "inflame tensions" in South Africa, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said.[45]
Be careful of that pipe, Eugene
06 Apr '10 09:55
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