Battle of Ventersdorp | |||||||
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Part of the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
AWB | South African Police | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Eugène Terre'Blanche | Hernus Kriel | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2,000 | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
3 killed 13 wounded | 6 wounded | ||||||
1 civilian killed, 29 civilians wounded |
The Battle of Ventersdorp was a violent confrontation on 9 August 1991 in the South African town of Ventersdorp between supporters of the far-right Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) and the South African Police and security forces. Though technically not a "battle", it became known as such in the media while official sources such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) simply refer to it as an "incident". Much of its notoriety lies in the fact that it marked the first occasion the South African security forces used lethal force against right-wing white protesters since the National Party's ascension to power in 1948.
The confrontation took place outside the Ventersdorp town hall where then State President F.W. de Klerk was scheduled to hold a public address. Ventersdorp was then a political stronghold of the right-wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), which had opposed de Klerk's decision to recognise the African National Congress and release Nelson Mandela the previous year. The town was inundated by angry AWB supporters the day of de Klerk's speech, including some carrying arms. The South African Police responded by setting up roadblocks and confiscating weapons. Tensions were running high between the police and the AWB due to a previous incident on 11 May 1991, when a group of policemen wounded four AWB militants attempting to drive black squatters off a Ventersdorp farm.
The AWB supporters numbered 2,000. [1] They were armed with hunting rifles and pistols and wore protective items to shield them from the effects of an inevitable tear gas attack by the riot police. The police equalled the AWB in number, but were considerably better trained and equipped.
Many unconventional tactics were employed by the AWB. They allegedly wore plaster of Paris on their limbs to protect them from police dogs. Video footage shows AWB members locking arms and carrying rags and vinegar to lessen the effects of tear gas.
Once the AWB cut the electricity and fired on the police, the police were ordered to shoot to kill. Three policemen were wounded, none of them fatally, while the police killed one AWB member. The AWB also fired into a police minibus. Two AWB members were killed and 13 were injured when the police returned fire from the minibus. Terre'Blanche made a point of appearing in front on television cameras and said (in Afrikaans), "Where is De Klerk? I want to talk to him. He came here armed. Here lies a man on the ground and over there lies a man" (referring to injured policemen). [2]
In all, three AWB members and one passer-by were killed. Six policemen, 13 AWB members, and 29 civilians were injured. [3]
The growing conflict between right-wing groupings and the government has been identified as one of the most significant developments in the course of 1991, with the Battle of Ventersdorp as its high point. [4]
The events in Ventersdorp, as well as gains by the right-wing opposition in white by-elections, led De Klerk to call a referendum in March 1992. The referendum confirmed white support for the negotiation process, despite continued opposition from the far right.
Following the end of apartheid, Terre'Blanche and his supporters sought amnesty for the Battle of Ventersdorp and other acts. Amnesty was granted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. [5] [6] [7]
The three dead AWB members, A. F. Badenhorst, G. J. Koen and J. D. Conradie, were honoured at an AWB ceremony in October 1994, in Ventersdorp. A monument still remembers their death. [8]
Frederik Willem de Klerk was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996. As South Africa's last head of state from the era of white-minority rule, he and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage. Ideologically a social conservative and an economic liberal, he led the National Party (NP) from 1989 to 1997.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa in 1996 after the end of apartheid. Authorised by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu, the commission invited witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, and selected some for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.
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The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, commonly known by its abbreviation AWB, is an Afrikaner nationalist, white supremacist, and neo-Nazi political party in South Africa. Since its founding in 1973 by Eugène Terre'Blanche and six other far-right Afrikaners, it has been dedicated to secessionist Afrikaner nationalism and the creation of an independent Boer-Afrikaner republic or "Volkstaat/Boerestaat" in part of South Africa. During bilateral negotiations to end apartheid in the early 1990s, the organisation terrorised and killed black South Africans.
Eugène Ney Terre'Blanche was an Afrikaner nationalist who founded and led the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. Prior to founding the AWB, he served as a South African Police officer, was a farmer, and was an unsuccessful Herstigte Nasionale Party candidate for local office in the Transvaal. He was a major figure in the right-wing backlash against the collapse of apartheid. His beliefs and philosophy have continued to be influential amongst white supremacists in South Africa and across the world.
Ventersdorp is a town of about 4,200 people in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality, North West Province, South Africa. It was the seat of the defunct Ventersdorp Local Municipality until 2016.
1994 in South Africa saw the transition from South Africa's National Party government who had ruled the country since 1948 and had advocated the apartheid system for most of its history, to the African National Congress (ANC) who had been outlawed in South Africa since the 1950s for its opposition to apartheid. The ANC won a majority in the first multiracial election held under universal suffrage. Previously, only white people were allowed to vote. There were some incidents of violence in the Bantustans leading up to the elections as some leaders of the Bantusans opposed participation in the elections, while other citizens wanted to vote and become part of South Africa. There were also bombings aimed at both the African National Congress and the National Party and politically-motivated murders of leaders of the opposing ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
The following lists events that happened during 1991 in South Africa.
The Herstigte Nasionale Party is a South African political party which was formed as a far-right splinter group of the now defunct National Party in 1969. The party name was commonly abbreviated as HNP, evoking the Herenigde Nasionale Party, although colloquially they were also known as the Herstigtes. The party is, unlike other splinter factions from the National Party, still active but politically irrelevant.
The 2002 Soweto bombings were a string of terrorist attacks that occurred in Soweto in South Africa's Gauteng province. Eight blasts took place on 30 October 2002, leaving one woman dead and her husband severely injured. One of the blasts severely damaged a mosque, while others targeted railways and petrol stations in the area. SAPS prevented one blast. Another bomb later detonated outside the Nan Hua Buddhist temple in Bronkhorstspruit, east of Pretoria. A white supremacist group, the Warriors of the Boer Nation, claimed responsibility for these explosions in a message sent to an Afrikaans newspaper.
A referendum on ending apartheid was held in South Africa on 17 March 1992. The referendum was limited to white South African voters, who were asked whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms begun by State President F. W. de Klerk two years earlier, in which he proposed to end the apartheid system that had been implemented since 1948. The result of the election was a large victory for the "yes" side, which ultimately resulted in apartheid being lifted. Universal suffrage was introduced two years later for the country's first non-racial elections.
His Big White Self is a 2006 documentary film made by Nick Broomfield. It is a sequel to his earlier documentary The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife (1991). It was first shown as part of More4's Nick Broomfield week which began on 27 February 2006. The documentary follows Broomfield as he returns to South Africa 12 years after the final end of the apartheid regime. His previous film focused largely on JP Meyer, a driver for Eugène Terre'Blanche, and JP's wife, Anita.
Afrikaner nationalism is an ethnic nationalistic political ideology created by Afrikaners residing in Southern Africa during the Victorian era. The ideology was developed in response to the significant events in Afrikaner history such as the Great Trek, the First and Second Boer Wars and the resulting anti-British sentiment and Anti-communism that developed among Afrikaners and opposition to South Africa's entry into World War I.
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The 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis was a major political crisis which began after Lucas Mangope, the president of Bophuthatswana, a nominally independent South African bantustan created under apartheid, attempted to crush widespread labour unrest and popular demonstrations demanding the incorporation of the territory into South Africa pending non-racial elections later that year. Violent protests immediately broke out following President Mangope's announcement on 7 March that Bophuthatswana would boycott the South African general elections. This was escalated by the arrival of right-wing Afrikaner militias seeking to preserve the Mangope government. The predominantly black Bophuthatswana Defence Force and police refused to cooperate with the white extremists and mutinied, then forced the Afrikaner militias to leave Bophuthatswana. The South African military entered Bophuthatswana and restored order on 12 March.
The White Liberation Movement was a South African neo-Nazi organisation which became infamous after being banned under the Apartheid regime, the first right-wing organisation to be so banned. It regarded itself as the most far-right organisation in South Africa.
Boervolk Radio presented by the Transvaal Separatists, is an internet-only radio station based in Kempton Park, South Africa.
Steyn von Rönge is a South African farmer and the incumbent president of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB). He was born to George Napier van Ryneveld and Elsie Catharina. He is married to Cornelia. von Rönge was the deputy leader of the AWB who took over the reins after Eugene Terre'Blanche, the founding president, was murdered 3 April 2010. He had previously acted as leader of the AWB when Terre'Blanche was in prison.
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"Dubul' ibhunu", translated as shoot the Boer, as kill the Boer or as kill the farmer, is a controversial anti-apartheid South African song. It is sung in Xhosa or Zulu. The song originates in the struggle against apartheid when it was first sung to protest the Afrikaner-dominated apartheid government of South Africa.