SOUTH AFRICA: Police linked the shadowy Afrikaner nationalist movement Boeremag or Boer Force to a series of bomb explosions in Soweto about 10 days ago when they released photographs at the weekend of six men wanted for questioning in connection with the bombing, writes Patrick Laurence from Johannesburg.
All six men were reported to be members of the Boeremag, whose reported fugitive leader, Tom Vorster, was arrested last week at the American consulate on charges of treason, terrorism and sabotage. Vorster, a former member of the South African Defence Force, was allegedly trying to escape to the US.
The six include brothers, Johan, Kobus and Wilhelm Pretorius, whose father, Lets was arrested in September after police seized a truck packed with explosives registered in his name. National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi said of the six men: "Until these individuals are arrested, the threat of loss of innocent lives and damage to infrastructure through acts of terrorism remains".
Last week Afrikaner intellectuals known as Group of 63 wrote an open letter to President Thabo Mbeki, warning that the bombings were a sign of the increasingly disaffection of Afrikaners under the ANC government. There was a need to examine the motives for the explosions: "(It) must be sought in the constitutional powerless of Afrikaners in the face of the ruling majority" Their right to talk on behalf of the Afrikaans community was challenged by Martinus van Schalkwyk, leader of the New National Party and advocate of "co-operative governance" with the ANC.