[Excellent article with some real meat in it. Some very fascinating statements from PW Botha in this article. I’ll bet there is truth in what he says. But trouble will come from this. I see mention of Bennie Van Zyl of the Transvaal Agricultural Union… poor man. I’ve met him – he’s a very nice guy. This article smacks of the truth. Few may know this, but I did hear, during my sojurns in the right, that there are Portuguese people in SA (from Angola and Mozambique), who are extremely right wing. This article hints at a link up between them and the Afrikaners. Neat idea. Jan]

Pretoria – Former state president PW Botha had advised a right wing coup plotter to get out of politics and “get a movement with an iron fist”, the Boeremag treason trial heard on Thursday.

State witness Lourens du Plessis told the Pretoria High Court he had visited Botha at home in June 2001 to discuss the political situation in the country.

The two-hour talk was aimed at getting proposals from the former statesman on a solution to the political situation of whites.

Botha said he believed white South Africans were facing annihilation, Du Plessis testified.

“I asked him what it was young people should do to ensure our survival and he said to get out of politics and get a movement with an iron fist.”

‘Won’t sell out my country’

Du Plessis was testifying against 22 alleged members of the rightwing Boeremag organisation charged with conspiring to overthrow the African National Congress-led government.

Du Plessis was arrested in connection with the case in August 2002 but charges were conditionally withdrawn in exchange for his testimony.

He told the court that Botha was of the opinion his successor, FW de Klerk, had sold the country out.

Botha told his visitors he had been offered $2m by an organisation like the Central Intelligence Agency to ease the transformation to a new South Africa.

“I asked him, Oom PW (Uncle PW) what was your answer? He said he told them, ‘I will not sell out my volk (people) or my country’.”

Du Plessis also named Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) general manager Bennie van Zyl and vice-president Willie Lewies in testimony about a range of meetings held to discuss the coup plot.

He told the court Van Zyl had organised a gathering in Limpopo in mid-2001 where he (Du Plessis) “tested the waters” on a military coup. Also present were Lewies, a former defence force group commander Frans Gunther, and Boeremag accused “Rooikoos” du Plessis.

Gunther shot down the idea as unworkable, and the discussions shifted to farm security and the situation white South Africans found themselves in.

At a subsequent meeting in Pretoria to discuss the “coup idea”, he overheard Van Zyl telling alleged Boeremag leader Mike du Toit “you have made much progress”, Du Plessis testified.

He also gave evidence about the printing of fake money to finance the coup d’etat. He had given Gunther a fake R100 note from a total stash of R100 000 at the Pretoria meeting for him to “see what he can do with it”. “The thinking was that if he was successful, half of the funds could be used for the TAU.”

Du Plessis said he had given a certain Roy Smith R130 000 for the production of fake money – of which he got back R100,000 in false notes.

He also testified that he had made contact with leaders of the Portuguese community in South Africa, and that they supported the plans.

The 22 men in the dock face 42 charges ranging from treason and terrorism to murder, attempted murder and the illegal possession of arms, ammunition and explosives.

Edited by Tisha Steyn

Source: News24.Com
URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/New…/p>