South Africa: On the murder of the leader of Afrikaner Resistance Movement · Global Voices
Muhammad Karim

On the night of the 3rd of April 2010, the leader of the Afrikaans Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), an Afrikaner resistance movement, Eugene Terre'Blanche, was murdered.  This has happened in the time when issues of race relations are hotly debated following the singing of ‘kill the boer’, an old apartheid activist song, by the ANC Youth leader, Julius Malema.
Let's see what digital citizens in South Africa are saying about his death and the future of race relations in the county.
From the Old has been following the entire fiasco so far and here's what he's posted on the South African Scouts Association: “Statement by the Verkenners Beweging van Suid-Afrika about the murder of Eugene Terreblanche”
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A ROUGH TRANSLATION FROM AFRIKAANS TO ENGLISH, PROPER VERSION WILL BE UPDATED IN A FEW MINUTES.
The Scouts Movement of South Africa has learned with sadness of the brutal murder of the elderly Eugene Terre'Blanche. Mr. Terre'Blanche devoted his life in bondage to his people whom he loved had. It is sad that his life was lost, for his bondage.
It is instructive to note that the murders are less than a month after Mal-emma the first time the commission had sung “shoot the farmer.” This follows two days of court order against Malema and can rightly be asked whether this court order an influence on the killing of our uncle Eugene. Whether there is a connection between the death of the communist Hani Paassaterdag in 1993 and the murder of Uncle Eugene Paassaterdag in 2010 for the Scouts Movement irrelevant. The fact is, a vulnerable elderly farmer in his bedroom on barbaric way with sticks and PanGas beaten to death and the regime of the day, the climate created for this genocide being committed against our people are.
The link between Julius Malema's provocative statements and the Murder of Eugnene Terre'blanche is a consistent theme when looking at the list of blog posts on the subject.  DBS on MyDigitalLife calls the event a big opportunity:
The murder of Eugene Terreblanche is a big opportunity for South Africans.
This is a great opportunity to take a big breath and show the world that we are able to be sensible, think before opening mouths and talk to each other before doing anything physically rash.
The hatred stirred up by different leaders in the past months is not good for the country. Let us use this man's death as a turning point to reconcile ourselves to the different views of the people in the country rather than lying the blame with someone singing a song.
Can we do that? Yes we can! Will we?  Well sadly I suspect not.
Obviously having a bone to pick with the AWB.  KickMugabeOut hopes the former AWB Leader suffers eternal torment.  He does cover the story with some very interesting pictures and comments.  One of the pictures shows a guy wearing a T-shirt with the old Apartheid flag as well as an Israeli flag on a fence.
South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, has made a statement on the murder of Eugene Terre'Blanche.  One is covered here by the Times Live Blog.  And another perspective on Jacob Zuma's statement by From The Old:
Today Jacob Zuma will speak to South Africa at 2pm.
He will most likely tell South Africans to forget about the event and that we should move on, however many claim this is not possible and that the boers are under attack.
Jacob Zuma also said today that “South Africans not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fuelling racial hatred”.
However he seems to forget that in the past few weeks white South Africans have been constantly attacked by Julius Malema that cant seem to stop the racial hatred and blaming of white people.
From The Old also covers another statement, this time by the AWB, claiming the murder was political:
The AWB came forward and said in a press conference that the murder was in fact political and that they will retaliate against Julius Malema whom they believe is the cause of the murder.
Julius Malema in the last few weeks incited hatred against white Afrikaners and Boers by insisting on singing the “kill the boer” song.
As tensions grow in South Africa just as the World Cup is heading this way. In under two months South Africa will hold the biggest sport event Africa has seen while polarization and racial tensions are peaking.
Continuing on this line, Common Dialogue asks, “Is Terre Blanche’s blood on Malema’s hands?”:
Eugene Terre Blanche died a violent death allegedly at the hands of his farm hands. Is this as a result of Malema singing “kill the boer”?
Terre Blanche was allegedly hacked and bludgeoned to death on his farm near Ventersdorp, in the North West province, allegedly by farmworkers during an argument over R600.
Emotions are inflamed with some rightwingers even threatening to avenge the killing. The question is just how “miraculous” was South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy?
And just how dangerous are the racial utterances by people like Malema and other politicians who are fond of racial political posturing?
From The Old, covering many aspects of the case on his blog, says this yet again from the AWB's perspective agreeing with a perspective revealed on Facebook:
“The BWB sympathizes with the family of Eugene Terreblanche and wants to point to the fact that this deed was politically motivated by Melama as revealed on Facebook”
White farmers all over South Africa are still under attack, now one of the biggest known boers have been murdered on his own farm because of a wage dispute allegedly. Many find it hard to believe that a normal pay dispute could lead to the death of Eugene Terreblanche the leader and founder of the AWB.
Eugene Terreblanche is said to not sleep at his farm at all and the fact that it came out that he was “sleeping” also brings up more doubts about the reality of what happened.
Whether or not this is politically motivated is another story, a white farmer employing black people on his farm gets murdered. The first thing that comes to mind is the song the ANC is so desperate wants to get unbanned. The same song Julius Malema was gagged not to sing but continues to sing in Zimbabwe despite court orders.
Tony Lankester puts up his opinion in “What Would Malema Do?”:
So Eugene Terreblanche has been murdered. And although it is probably unrelated, the fact that it happened while the country debates the appropriateness of struggle songs like “kill the boer” is going to put the whole debate in stark relief. It is a real life example of what the song’s critics have been saying, and Malemaphobes will gloat into their G&T’s. And while it is unlikely that a tubeless rendition of the song inspired anyone to put a bullet into a sleeping Mr Terreblanche, it will be interesting to see what Julius Malema does next. Will he back down and stop singing it? Will he publicly condemn the murder and say that actually doing it is not what he meant? Or will he stick to the principle he’s been holding forth and sing it at the next opportunity?
FliMflaMfLiK argues that instead of focusing on “kill the boer” the song, and we should focus on this facts: “Terreblanche = White Earth”:
Everyone seems to be focussing on “the song” but nobody is looking at “the facts”.   Getting knickers in a twist is what people do best and what they should be doing is sitting back and looking at the logical:
1. They were 16 and 21 respectively – very young.
2. They did not run, they waited for the cops.
3. They were angry about not getting their monthly salary of R300.00 each (shocking).
4. Apparently Eugine treated them very badly in the past (this I can well believe).  He had threatened to kill them before.
5. Given the above, could these young lads have thought (in their minds), that they were acting in self defense?
Just because Eugine was famous, it's an issue?
These young men may not have known anything about any song in their parts.  We don't know.
Perhaps it's wise to wait and see what other facts present themselves?
And finally, in a satirical twist, Azad Essa uses the Terreblanche event to pick apart issues and stereotypes in the South African Muslim Community in his post on Thought Leader “Was Terror’Blanche a Muslim?”
Overall, one of South Africa's leading figures of the “Afrikaner Resistance” movement has been put to rest in violent circumstances.