- 2002 Soweto bombings
The 2002 Soweto Bombings were a string of terrorist attacks that occurred in
Soweto inSouth Africa 'sGauteng province , in late2002 . Nine blasts took place on30 October 2002 , leaving one woman dead and her husband severely injured. One of the blasts severely damaged a mosque, and there were other explosions onrailways andpetrol stations in the area. A tenth bomb later detonated outside the Nan Hua Buddhist Temple inBronkhorstspruit , east ofPretoria . At the time, it was not known whether this bomb was related to the attacks (the police later stated that it was). A white supremacist group called theWarriors of the Boer Nation claimed responsibility for the explosions, sending a message to anAfrikaans newspaper. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2440463.stm Right-wing group claims Soweto blastsBBC News ] ]A subsequent explosion on
28 November 2002 damaged abridge in the area, and another damaged a police helicopter in a small airport. [ [http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2522579.stm Blast on South African bridgeBBC News ] ]Background
Since the overthrow of
apartheid in1994 , many white South Africans, andAfrikaners in particular, felt alienated by black rule and the ANC's government, and feared that the racist violence inZimbabwe would spill into the country. In particular, many people had concerns about the rising wave ofcrime across the country.In the month leading up to the bombings, sixteen members of the
Boeremag , a militant far-right organisation, had been put on trial for plotting to overthrow the government. This organisation, and others like it, had been formed in response to the ANC rebellion in the early 1990s and the resulting violence in South Africa as a result. South Africa has had a history of such events, as theAWB were responsible for several assassinations and attacks during the late 1980s and early 1990s, before its leader,Eugene Terre'Blanche , was imprisoned. In addition, the ANC had often carried out attacks on South Africanmilitary andgovernment targets, which many people described asterrorism .Six years previously, in
1996 , bombs had exploded in aWestern Cape shopping centre, killing four Coloured shoppers and injuring sixty others [ [http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/Monographs/No81/Chap4.html RISE OF THE BOEREMAG: A CASE STUDY] .]The bombs
Two of the explosions targeted the railway lines at
Lenasia , which connects Soweto toJohannesburg , causing chaos with public transport networks. Another bomb ripped apart the walls of a mosque, and a third explosion killed a woman in a residential area,Claudia Mokone , severely injuring her husband. A petrol station was also targeted in one of the attacks. Two other people were injured in other attacks. A device placed in the basement of the Nan Hua Buddhist temple was prevented from causing fatalities when it was kicked out of the way by someone at the scene before detonating, although it injured two people. [ [http://iafrica.com/news/sa/180289.htm Two injured in Buddhist temple blast] ]Police prevented a blast at another petrol station in the area, when they received a tip-off about two white men who were said to be acting suspiciously and "rolling something". Had the bomb gone off, it could have caused major fatalities. [ [http://www.joburg.org.za/oct_2002/oct30_blast3.stm Police prevented a tenth blast] ] .
The terrorist attacks caused horror and grief in the community, where no such explosions had occurred throughout its history. Fears were heightened when a power failure struck Soweto, although this was not thought to be related to terrorism. Many conspiracy theories arose after the attacks, with some residents suggesting that the bombers may have been right-wingers hired by
Thabo Mbeki , however, these allegations have not been substantiated. [ [http://www.joburg.org.za/oct_2002/oct30_blast2.stm Bomb blasts: 'I thought God had come'] ]Almost a month later, on
28 November 2002 , another bomb exploded on a bridge near Port Edward inKwazulu Natal , although nobody was hurt. Police could only confirm one explosion, but many residents said that they heard two. A more powerful bomb had exploded the previous weekend at an airport used by police helicopters and damaging one, although police could not confirm that this explosion was linked to the attack on the bridge, or any of the others. Nobody was hurt.Investigation and trial
Thomas Vorster , a top military intelligence officer under the apartheid regime, was arrested for his alleged involvement into the attacks shortly after they occurred. [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1231352002] Twenty white men in theBoeremag organisation, including Vorster, were subsequently charged withtreason for their part in the bombings, the murder of Claudia Makone, attempted murder for a plot to kill Nelson Mandela with acar bomb , as well as conspiracy with an alleged plot to overthrow the government. According toThe Namibian , 26 pipe bombs were found in a rural area ofCape Province by police searching for the terrorists responsible for the attacks.There was a heavy police presence in the area where the trial of the men took place, to prevent further attacks and escape attempts. [ [http://www.meta-religion.com/Extremism/White_extremism/Boeremag/boeremag.htm The Boeremag] ] . However, there was speculation that that several officers in the South African police and military had links to the attacks. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2383795.stm SA bombers 'in army and police'
BBC News ] ] . The trial was expected to last more than two years, and is still ongoing at the time of writing (2005 ).The trial was adjourned several times due to legal arguments. It soon became politicised as Paul Kruger, their defence lawyer, argued that the South African government was
illegitimate and unconstitutional, and that the first multi-racial elections in the country had not been valid, as white voters were never consulted [ [http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1361519,00.html Boeremag: Cellphone blown upNews24 ] ] . The defence planned to call the formerPresident of South Africa ,FW De Klerk as a witness to prove their case, however the court later ruled that he could not be forced to stand [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3106885.stm De Klerk freed from treason trialBBC News ] ] .In an extraordinary move, the alleged terrorists claimed that they had been subject to
torture in the jail in which they were being held. They had, in fact, been forced at times to listen to loudrap music andkwaito in the Pretoria prison in which they were being held [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3162997.stm SA right-wingers 'tortured by rap'BBC News ] ] , but it is debatable whether this constituted torture. Nonetheless, the judge presiding over the case,Eberhardt Bertelsmann , forbade the prison authorities from broadcastingMetro FM , the offending radio station. However, the prisoners had to buy portableradio s and batteries for inmates who wanted to continue listening to the music. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3083420.stm SA jail-house rap endsBBC News ] ]Motivation
The terrorists were said to be motivated by a sense of alienation and frustration with their situation in South Africa, as well as religious beliefs similar to
Christian Identity , which asserted their God-given right to rule the nation. They subsequently issued further threats, asserting that there would be further "surprises" in store. One of the group's aims was to assassinateNelson Mandela and [ [http://www.polity.org.za/pol/news/2003/?show=39280 SA’s rightwing can cause harm-analysts] ] possibly restore apartheid to South Africa, (although some have suggested that their aim was to start arace war and "kick the blacks out of the country", while others have asserted that they aimed to set up an independent Afrikaner nation).A letter to the police sent by the terrorists suggested a religious motive to the attacks, accusing those who opposed them of being the enemies of the "God of Blood River," describing themselves as "Soldiers of God" and suggesting that the bombings were "the beginning of the end" of the ANC. The letter declared:
We also declare that it is the end of suppression of the Boer nation, and for that we honour only God. For this reason the ANC must also know that it is not only dealing with the Boer nation, but with the revenge… of the God of the Boer nation. Here in the Southland we will establish a nation for our God that will honour only Him.
In what South African intelligence services interpreted as referring to the attacks on the mosque and the Buddhist temple, the letter went on to say that no "heathen temples or places of prayer would be permitted in the Southland". It also vowed to avenge farm murders and rapes carried out by South African criminals.
Aftermath
The attacks, although relatively minor, provoked debate in the South African media, as well as the government, about the position of whites in South Africa, especially Afrikaners, who had largely dominated politics before the end of apartheid. However, many Afrikaners felt stigmatised, and that they were unfairly viewed as racist and linked to terrorist groups, even though the majority rejected such acts. [ [http://www.hsf.org.za/focus29/focus29laurence.html PAGE MOVED] ]
However, in their book
Volk, Faith and Fatherland , researchersMartin Schonteiff andHenri Boschoff argued that "Given the real high levels of violent crime, rising white unemployment and the campaign against white farmers inZimbabwe , such arguments ["i.e., the ones used by the terrorists"] may be capable of eliciting widespread sympathy among conservatively-minded Afrikaners" [ [http://www.ijr.org.za/politicalanalysis/samonitor/rrdebate Race Relations: Debate] ] .All of the mainstream political parties usually associated with whites, the
Democratic Alliance , theNew National Party and theFreedom Front , condemned the bombings, and the Defence Minister,Mosiuoa Lekota pointed out that most white South Africans were loyal citizens. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/08/1036308479713.html?oneclick=true Bespectacled, mild, polite: the new face of white supremacy?] ]References
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