From a reader in the UK:-

Dear Mr Lamprecht,
yesterday on channel4 there was a documentary about Eugene Terreblanche.
Nich Broomfield,the author,did a first documentary in 1991 and,at the time, he was attacked by Terreblanche and other AWB members and he received threats (at least it’s what he said).

14 years later he go back in South Africa to do a sequel,the one aired yeasterday.

He make a brief description of him and the AWB,portraining them as a paramilitary force of religious fanatics.

He go to the city where they were based (Ventersdrop)and explains how it changed,from a white only to a black one,even if it says that segregation in school still exists.

Then he described some incidents caused(he says) by the AWB.
He portrays a violent riot in Bushbotswana(I don’t rememberthe exact pronunciation) against F W DeKlerk and the fight with the police,the assault at the world trade centre in Johannesburg where Mandela and De Klerk were in a meeting just before the election,other attacks with dogs in his city and then his imprisonment for murder.

He try to accuse Terreblanche for waging a civil war just before the 1994 elections and of mastermining several terrorist attacks.

He interviews JP,Terrablanche’s driver an his wife who think being racist is OK.

At the end he says Terrablanche now is more interested in poetry and the blacks who were victims of his attacks want to forgive him and try to look ahead to improve South Africa.

What I described is what this documentary said.

I don’t know Terrablanche so I would like to have your opinion about this documentary.

If you want you can go to www.channel4.com, put the title of the documentary on SEARCH and then post your comment.

I wrote to you because I would like to have your opinion on Terrablanche and this documentary.

[I’ve not had the time to look at it, but I’ll make some comments about Eugene Terblanche.

One can portray him as a religious fanatic and racist, and he certainly would come across like that.

But deeper down, he is also a voice for Afrikaner independence.

He did indeed have a private army and did try to wage a war in 1994. They did indeed bomb several buildings and did kill a number of blacks. But, they were also caught very quickly.

There is a type of “self-censorship” which occurred in the past, under De Klerk, to get Right Wing whites into line, and that’s pretty much why the AWB was quickly sorted out.

The AWB had a Nazi-like insignia. Terblanche also went to prison for the attempted murder of a black man. Since then, he’s been warned to stay out of politics, and he pretty much does so – hence the poetry, religion, etc.

But Terblanche might appear to be a loud-mouthed “dumb” Afrikaner, but he is also honest. He does state that Afrikaners should get self rule. He may not be the most eloquent in speaking out, but he is driven by passion for defending his own. I do admire a man who stands up for what he believes in, even if one does not always agree with everything he says.

The PAC (Pan Africanist Congress) in S.Africa want an Africa that is completely dominated by Blacks only – Africa for the “Africans” (blacks). Terblanche is the Right Wing Equivalent.

I do believe we need more Terblanche types among us whites though – men who are prepared to say their say, and stand up to rise or fall by what they believe in. We do need White men who are willing and able to be counted upon.

So I would give Terblanche points for courage and for being direct. So what if people don’t like what he says – he is being direct and honest – which is more than others are. There are plenty of blacks who’d love to slit our throats and who are merely biding their time.

Terblanche also was opposed to the ANC because they represented communism/socialism – and in that he is 100% correct. His position is more than just “mere racism” and “mere hate”. There is logic behind it too. Jan]