THE white supremacist leader, Eugene Terre'Blanche, was yesterday sentenced to imprisonment for six years for attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Terre'Blanche (53), leader of the neo-fascist Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB), was granted leave to appeal and released on bail of about £2,950. The money was brought to the court in three Hessian sacks containing coins collected from his dwindling band of fanatical supporters.
Terre'Blanche, who once threatened to lead the AWB in a war to the death against the ANC, was convicted on common law crimes, not political offences.
His victims were defenceless black men: Mr Paul Mostshabi, a former employee, whom Terre'Blanche struck on the head with an iron pipe, causing extensive brain damage, and Mr John Ndzima, a petrol attendant, on whom Terre'Blanche set his dog.
Several dozen right-wing supporters gathered at the court, but a larger group of blacks sang and some waved placards demanding a life jail term for Terre'Blanche. Scores of police guarded the courtroom, which was sealed off by razor-wire.
Terre'Blanche showed no emotion when sentence was passed, in contrast to his behaviour when he was convicted in April. On that occasion he stormed out of court, denying his guilt and describing the court as a "circus".
His khaki-clad followers yesterday were similarly stunned into silence, except for a man who shouted, "Vierkleur hoog", a reference to the flag of the 19th-century Boer republic headed by Paul Kruger.
Afterwards, Terre'Blanche described the sentence as "preposterous", predicting that it would be rejected on appeal. "If I were to be locked up today, the truth would be inside with me and the lie outside," he said.
Terre'Blanche, who sees himself as the heir to a long line of "ware" or true Afrikaner nationalists, including Boer leaders who resisted British imperialism during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 refused to reply to journalists who spoke to him in English.
"Find me an educated person," he said.
The presiding magistrate who convicted and sentenced him, and the prosecutor who argued that Terre'Blanche should be sent to jail on each count, were Afrikaners, an irony which reflects a deeper sociological truth: some of Terre'Blanche's fiercest critics are themselves Afrikaners.
Terre'Blanche had to suffer a further indignity. He was found by the magistrate, Mr Chris Eksteen, to be unfit to own a firearm.
Mr Eksteen's decision indirectly highlighted one of Terre'Blanche's oft-repeated axioms: "A white without a gun in South Africa today is a dead man".
The African National Congress, which has proved to be Terre'Blanche's political nemesis, welcomed the sentence, saying: "It will send a signal to the communities that no one is above the law."
The Boer State leader, Mr Robert Van Tonder, labelled the sentence a blot on the once-good name of South Africa's judicial system.