Black miners’ rights are being abused and Boeremag 10 year
trial still underway
The unrest in South Africa entered a new phase after
the government decided to release the miners who were involved in the bloody
clashes on August 16, when 34 protesters were shot and killed by the security
forces.
Ironically, the State Prosecution intended to prosecute the
demonstrators with murder charges despite the fact that all the victims were
gunned down by the police and this had never been questioned by anybody. Earlier
this week all the protesters were freed, but new violent clashes took place.
This time the police used rubber bullets against the black workers and only four
miners were wounded and hospitalized.
The change in the position of the government is perceived by the
miners as their major victory and it seems that they will continue the strike
until some of their demands will be satisfied. One of the miners activists,
Zondwa Mbutu told the "Voice of Russia": "After 34 comrades were killed by the
police on August 16 we had to deal with 270 arrested miners. Only our protests
and worldwide publicity forced the government to back off. Originally they
wanted to accuse the victims of police violence of causing the blood-bath".
It seems that the government of South Africa is really vulnerable
when it comes to the international outburst of dissatisfaction with the current
human rights situation in the country. This was confirmed to the Voice of Russia
by the human rights veteran campaigner, the leader of PRAAG organization,
professor Dan Roodt: "The prosecution retract from the murder charges against
the workers has demonstrated the government vulnerability to the world public
opinion. But while being preoccupied with the violence against the miners, the
world media is absolutely silent about the continuing slaughter of the whites on
pure racial grounds. Just yesterday we heard about terrible attack on a couple
with two children in the Roses Garden near Pretoria. The husband was beaten up
brutally and his wife was raped by them in front of the children. How long will
the world stand idly by this?"
However, there is no much "glasnost" in the world press when the
matter is the plight of white minority in SA. The terrible atrocities towards
white farmers, for example, never make front pages of leading newspapers in
Europe and in the USA. Even the controversial singing in public of the song
"Kill the Boer" by the state president Jacob Zuma does not make any headline in
the "New York Times".
However, the publicity does work very well in South Africa. Last
week there was another break announced during the trial of white underground
group called the "Boeremag". All the defendants were found guilty of "treason".
Some of the accused activists were involved in nothing more than discussing the
ways to stop the genocide of the whites in SA and to create a separate state for
themselves, as the people of Lesotho or Bophuthatswana did.
One of them, the war hero of the Eighties, Adriaan van Wyk was
released last week from prison after more than ten years behind bars. The
Boeremag trial lasted for over ten years before reaching the verdict, but the
final sentencing is still ahead. There is no analogy to such a lengthy trial
procedures while almost all of the accused kept in prison. The judge decided
that Adriaan van Wyk can be free, because there was no reason to sentence him to
more than ten years anyway. However, he was released under severe restrictions
and one of them is not to speak to the press.
But his lawyer, Daan Mostert told to "The Voice of Russia" that
"the restrictions violate the basic rights of Adriaan Jacobus van Wyk, who
should have been released on bail after the interrogation in the first time, if
there were justice". Daan Mostert is also convinced that "telling the truth
around the world about the situation in SA is the most important for the people
who suffer from violence and injustice". He also wanted to thank "The Voice of
Russia" which made the case of van Wyk public a
month ago. "Your publication played in important role in getting Adriaan out
of prison. We can not overestimate the importance of true information – it can
change people's destinies and save lives".
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