Piet Botha - vergete volksheld of groot verleentheid

[Kubaan]

Piet Botha - vergete volksheld of groot verleentheid

Postby Yannis » Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:33 pm
Piet Botha, of te wel David Petrus Botha, geboorte datum 24/09/1944, was die leier van die Putco drie wat sewe mense vermoor het en 'n verder twintig beseer het. Botha het op sy eie inisiatief besluit om die aanval te loods om die destydse regering te wys dat dit op die verkeerde pad was.

Die eed wat hy gesweer het het hom gedryf om die aanval op die Putco bus uit te voer. Gedurende sy Waarheid en Versoenings Kommissie verhoor het hy herhaaldelik gesê dat die beleid was dat vir elke wit mens wat vermoor word, moet tien swartmense vermoor word. In sy eerste en enigste optrede het hy net sewe mense vermoor, so 'n veiling dan in sy missie.

Botha, voorheen 'n verkeerskonstabel in Johannesburg het op 'n stadium 'n baie hoër profiel gehad. Gedurende die sewentigerjare was hy “Dawie” in die Hoëveld helikopter en het daagliks verkeer-verslae gelewer en daar was altyd 'n goedmoedige geskerts tussen hom en Robin Alexander. Hy het die voorreg gehad om Liz Taylor te ontmoet en sy het hom beskryf as 'n baie aantreklike en sjarmante man.

Alhoewel volkome tweetalig, het Botha verkies om sy pleidooi by die Waarheid en Versoenings Kommissie in Afrikaans te lewer. In 'n diep statige stem wat klink of dit van Eugene Terreblanche geleen is, het hy sy posisie verduidelik. Op geen stadium het hy enige berou of simpatie vir sy slagoffers getoon nie. Sy verweer was dat dit oorlog was en dat sy optrede dus geregverdig was.

Hy was oorspronklik tot dood veroordeel maar was later begenadig tot dertig jaar tronkstraf. Die Waarheid en Versoenings Kommissie het hom dieselfde simpatie betoon as hy vir sy slagoffers, en het sy aansoek in 1996 afgekeur. 'n Tweede aansoek in 2000 het dieselfde uitkoms gelewer.

Dit is onbekend aan die skrywer waar hy hom tans bevind, en of hy nog lewe. Sy naam verskyn nêrens in enige van die regse partye nie, so hy is of 'n vergete held, of 'n verleentheid wat liefs vergeet moet word.

Hier volg die eed wat hy geneem het, dit was afgelig van die transkripsie van sy getuienis by die Waarheid en Versoenings Kommissie:


I take an oath that I commit myself to the freedom struggle of the Boer nation to:
1) to establish the independence of the Boer Republics in 1902;
2) the current, so-called Republic of South Africa to bring that to an end; and
3) the steps taken by the National Party Government and it’s associates who support it and the ANC and the SACP to combat these parties with everything at my disposal even if it means that I would have to sacrifice my life in the process.
I also swear that I will be faithful to this oath and carry out all orders issued to me in the furtherance in the above objectives. That I will ensure that all instructions which I might issue in the furtherance of the above objectives and I further declare under oath that I will not, in respect of an instruction by any body in respect of the ideals of the Orde Boerevolk and the old Boer Republics or the Republic of the Orange Free State that I will not infiltrate, commit espionage or report on their activities, whether orally, in writing or in whatever form, and furthermore I undertake to never, in respect of the activities of any member fighting the above struggle, to report the activities of such a member to anybody.
And lastly, that I never in any court of whatever nature, will testify against any existing or former member, or in respect of the activities of the Order or its supporting bodies will nevertestify against it or these people.
So help me God."

[Kubaan]

Hier volg 'n uitreksel van Piet Botha se verklaring gedurende sy verhoor by die Waarheid en Versoenings Kommissie.

I was under the impression that the campaign of terror by the PAC against Whites had now commenced, and since we had already declared war against the National Party, and as a result of this attack, I as cell leader felt that we should launch a counter-attack to prove to the government of the day, and to show to it that the road it was following was full of danger and that incidents of this kind would increase in frequency.
Our purpose was also to show to the PAC and its communist allies that attacks of this kind would not be tolerated, and that we would take counter-measures in a very forceful way.
And I also felt that the counter-attack should take place in Durban where the attack from the PAC had taken place in the morning and I felt that the attack by the PAC and the counter-attack should be seen in context, and I think we succeeded in this, because in the Sunday Tribune of the 14th of October 1990 in which interviews had been conducted with passengers in a bus from where the attack was launched, it said that they believed that the attack had been launched by Boers as a result of the PAC attack that morning on White people at the beach front.
We travelled by car from Richards Bay to Durban and it was late in the evening when we arrived here, it was about, I think about eight o’clock or nine o’clock maybe when we arrived here.

When I refer to "we", when I heard of the attack, I immediately contacted Adriaan Smuts and Mr Eugene Marais and asked them whether they had heard about the attack. I must say that both Mr Adriaan Smuts and Mr Eugene Marais were members of my cell, the cell that I had established, a cell of the Orde Boerevolk. I could not immediately get hold of Mr Smuts, but I spoke to Mr Marais about it and he also felt that if this attack should just be allowed to take place and nothing be done about it without any counter-attack that we would not succeed in our objective of making people realise that this kind of attack would not be tolerated in future, or be allowed to happen with impunity.
I told Mr Marais to come to my home that evening, and at about six o’clock that evening I contacted Mr Smuts by telephone and I also ordered him to come to my home. We there decided to travel to Durban by car and to launch a counter-attack, so that we could show the government and the PAC that the conduct by the PAC, the ANC and their communist allies and also the government’s policy that this would not be tolerated without any conduct by the Orde Boerevolk.
When we arrived in Durban, we drove in the vicinity of the bus ranks, but the area was very - quite quiet. The next day was the 10th of October, which would be a public holiday, Kruger Day, and perhaps that contributed to the fact that the streets of Durban were fairly quiet. We saw a minibus taxi driving past us, it was full of passengers, and we decided that we would attack this minibus.
We followed the bus from the central area of Durban and the bus moved in - along the freeway in the direction of KwaMashu. The bus turned off the freeway and entered a very densely populated area, and as a result of this, I aborted the attack.
We then returned to the freeway and at the Evoko off-ramp we turned off there and turned back towards Durban. Because it was quite late at that stage, and it was very quiet, we considered perhaps returning to Richard’s Bay. We stopped at a garage and we bought some coldrinks and drank these coldrinks. Whilst we were busy doing that, a Putco bus full of people drove past from Durban in the direction of KwaMashu.
I decided that we would attack this bus and gave the instruction. We then followed the bus in our car, and near the Duff Road off-ramp, I was driving the car, I should say that, and Mr Adriaan Smuts sat in the back of the car on the left-hand side, and Mr Eugene Marais was sitting in the passenger seat.
We overtook the bus and I told my colleagues to fire in the direction of the bus. We used automatic attack rifles to fire at the bus as we passed the bus - as we overtook it. Immediately after the attack we returned to Richards Bay.

[Kubaan]

Hier volg 'n uitreksel van die TRC Final Report.

Paragraaf 196 to 197 verwys na die eerste aansoek vir amnestie in 1996.

Paragraaf 198 to 201deel met Botha se aansoek vir 'n hersiening van die oorspronklike besluit in 1997.


196. In reaching a decision, the Committee distinguished between the roles played by Botha on the one hand and Smuts and Marais on the other, on the grounds that Smuts and Marais were Botha’s subordinates and were under orders to carry out the attack as members of the Orde. Botha had not received any order or instructions to carry out the attack; nor did his actions carry the approval of any of his superiors or of the organisation.
197. Botha was refused and Smuts and Marais were granted amnesty for the incident. Botha was, however, granted amnesty for the unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition [AC/1997/0053].
198. David Petrus Botha submitted an application for the review of the Committee’s refusal to grant him amnesty. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Smit, found that the Amnesty Committee had:
a failed to consider properly whether Botha’s conduct had not in fact complied with the requirements of the Act as to whether the ‘act, omission or offence was committed in the execution of an order of, or on behalf of, or with the approval of, the organisation, institution, liberation movement or body of which the person who committed the act was a member, an agent or supporter’;
b lost sight of the fact that the provisions of section 20(3)(e) were merely criteria to be applied to determine whether an act was committed with a political objective and not requirements necessary for the granting or refusal of amnesty.
199. The Court set aside the refusal of amnesty and referred the matter back to the Committee to hear further evidence.
200. The applicant appeared before the Committee again in December 2000 and adduced the evidence of the leader of the Orde Boerevolk, Mr Pieter Rudolph. Rudolph said that he would not have authorised the attack if he had been asked to do so and that, in any event, he would have had no way of communicating with his supporters as he had been in detention at the time.
201. The Committee subsequently refused amnesty to Botha on the same basis as before, namely that he had had no authority from his political organisation to launch an attack on innocent and unarmed civilians.[/size]