Eugene Terre’Blanch (his last name means ‘white land’), was born in the Transvaal town of Ventersdorp, South Africa on January 31st, 1941. In the seventies he founded the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), an extreme right wing party with six other Afrikaans-speaking whites descended from Dutch immigrants. Terre’Blanch was a product of the Apartheid regime driven by racism, white supremacy and derogatory view of blacks.
Before people start pointing fingers at ANC youth leader Julius Melema for inciting violence, one should look at the past and recent actions of Mister Terre’Blanch himself. His views and beliefs led him to even hate white people if they make concessions to black people. There’s no way I’m condoning violence, no matter physically or verbally. But Terre’Blanch is a well known hate preacher in South Africa. And it did not stop with words. This man has innocent blood on his hands. He incited hate, which led to terrorizing and the killing of innocent civilians in the streets of Bophuthatswana in 1994.
On the 3rd of April 2010 Eugene Terre’Blanch was murdered on his farm. He was reportedly bludgeoned to death by two young black males in a pay dispute. Now if this hideous crime was about salary payment as it has been reported, then I think this was a stupid act on the behalf of the suspects and I will have to condemn this act. I think, no I know, I will go haywire if I don’t get my hard earned honest payment. And there are many things I will like to do to the person whose mistake it is. But murder is something you do in self defence. I will have to wait till all the facts come forward, but if this is the scenario then my verdict is: pay the boys and lock them up.
There’s one thing I do not understand though. This guy was seen with people with swastika like logo on their sleeves. He is a fury advocate of apartheid. This is a man who preaches racism and admires Hitler. So my question is; with all his rhetoric, why does he have black servants? Why is he even associating with black people? Studying his history I can only come to the following conclusion; he considered these youngsters his slaves and enjoyed the fact he was a master around the house or he was delusional.
People on the right wing have linked the crime to Julius Malema’s recent singing of a traditional ANC struggle song that includes the words “shoot the Boer”. Henceforth Julius Malema is banned by the country’s High Court from singing the song again. That song is a protest song. It came to exist because of inequality, because of the poverty in the ghettos in South Africa. If the government wants that song to disappear it will have to start doing something about the ghettos and the hardship black people are facing in their daily lives. The people will stop singing “I’m hungry” when the people are fed. Today South Africa has black government, but what are his goals for the people? What positive or great change has it made? What change are you going to show a family with 3 children living in a shack in the ghetto with no water or electricity? People are living in these dire circumstances with their children their whole damn life. The ANC shouldn’t sing that song. They have been in power and changed nothing. The real people in the ghetto can sing that song, and I would like to see them change the part of “shoot the Boer” to “shoot whoever that stands in our way”, because we the people are fed up with bureaucracy, inadequate government and most of all inequality.