SOUTH AFRICA: POTCHEFSTROOM: NEO-NAZI LEADER JAILED

(18 Oct 1999) English/Nat

Eugene TerreBlanche, a neo-Nazi leader who once threatened race war in South Africa, will be jailed after a court rejected his appeal against a prison sentence for two assaults on black men.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation said the High Court in Pretoria rejected TerreBlanche's appeal.

Two years ago, his supporters raised the bail money, following his conviction by a lower court in Potchefstroom, 100 miles (160 kilometres) southwest of Pretoria.

TerreBlanche was convicted in April 1997 for the attempted murder of one of his black workers, Paul Motshabi, in March 1996 and also for grievous bodily harm.

The charge of assault related to him setting his dog on John Ndzima, a gas station attendant, two weeks before the attack on Motshabi.

TerreBlanche's A-W-B threatened race war against black rule and set off a series of bombs that killed 21 people on the eve of South Africa's first all-race election in 1994.

Outside the court house, police had to create a wall of razor wire to keep back a crowd of protestors, most of them black.

They chanted as the bail money arrived and one man expressed his approval when the original sentence was imposed.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"You must see the law being done to these people like Mr. TerreBlanche."
SUPERCAPTION: Vox-pop

According to testimony at the trial, Eugene TerreBlanche knocked down Paul Motshabi and beat him with a club on March 25, 1996.

Motshabi was left brain damaged after the attack.

His injuries came as a serious blow to his family.

Before the attack, Motshabi helped bring some money into the household.

Since the attack, his 80-year-old father Petrus has had to support him and two of his brothers out of his meagre pension.

Petrus wanted to see TerreBlanche convicted and must finally feel that justice has been done.

SOUNDBITE: (Tswana)
"They can give him a life sentence. He is not a human being. He kills people."
SUPER CAPTION: Petrus Motshabi, father of alleged victim of TerreBlanche

Motshabi worked for TerreBlanche as a security guard.

He managed a small security firm which supplied guards for local businesses in Ventersdorp, the small farming town west of Johannesburg where the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (or A-W-B) has its headquarters.

Motshabi is unlikely to ever fully recover - he talks slowly, walks with difficulty and cannot work any more.

SOUNDBITE: (Tswana)
"I can't remember anything. I don't know anything. I stay at home and don't know anything."
SUPER CAPTION: Paul Motshabi, alleged beating victim of TerreBlanche

A witness testified he saw TerreBlanche club Motshabi down.

Gabriel Kgosimang, who worked for the same security firm, said he ran away because TerreBlanche threatened to kill him.

The A-W-B was among the most radical white groups to oppose South Africa's shift from apartheid to black rule.

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