Eugen Terblanche Dies

I woke up to reports about the tragic murder fo the AWB leader, Eugen Terblanche. It is reported that two men, 15 and 21 years respectively, who were employed by the deceased attacked and killed him because of a wage dispute. These two men geve themselves up and have been arrested and the investigation continues. As a lawyer, I know that evidence is about facts. The facts in this case are clear; two employees kill their employer because of a wage dispute. No one has come out to dispute this, and I am sure the investogation will confirm this principal fact.

Therefore, I can't help but disregard the reports that I have heard over various media that claim that this brutal crime is 'directly linked to the 'kill the farmer' song that Julius Malema and the ANC have come out to defend with all forces". The court in this case will ask the question, 'what was the motive" and to do so the court must inquire into the subjective minds of these men. To me, the wage dispute seems to be motive behing the crime and as such the
element that triggered the chain of events that led to the murder of the AWB leader. Whether the song 'kill the farmer' had a role to play in this crime is a matter that the court should and must not consider. For all we know, these two men didn't even watch the news and had no knowledge of the 'kill the farmer' song debacle.

So, what should we then make of the recent and continuig utterances relating to the 'kill the farmer' song by both the ANC and the ANCYL? These bodies have vowed to challenge the decision of the High Court bannig the song, and claim that the song is not harmful and is part of South Africa's history. While I agree with the latter, I am strongly against having the song being part of the Aouth Africa story post 1994, and the ANC and the ANCYL are being irresponsible in calling for the song to be sung and celebrated. When the Ranbow Nation was born in April 1994, both blacks and whites and all other races in our country, through the promulgation of the constitution, entered into a social contract for purposes of building a united South Africa. That meant that any entintlement for exclusive and preferential treatemnt falling outsisde of the new democratic dispensation were a breach of this social contract, and had no place in our Rainbow Nation. In accordance with the concept of a contract, the parties have both rights and duties.The rights ar entranched in the Bill of Rights and the duties are implied throughtout the body of the constitution. Prime among these duties, is the duty to contribute towards building a united South Africa.

The conduct of the ANCYL recently, and the support of the ANC of the ANCYL in relation to such conduct, runs contrary to this duty. The ANC believes that it has the right to sing the 'kill the farmer' song because it forms part of its struggle histroy. However, what the ANC misses here is that we are no longer in a political struggle per se. Accepting the ANC's position in this regard automatically awards Afrikanners and other formations of our society to celebrate and promote whatever exclusive element of their heritage not consistent with the democratic dispensation. For example, if the ANC wants to continue to sing 'kill the farmer' song bevcause it is part of its heritage, then the Afrikaaners must be allowed to sing 'dela rey' or whatever song that expresses their adherence to an exclusive heritage. All races must be treated equally. The ANC cannot expect preferential treatment. The consitution has provided for preferential programmes such as BEE and affirmative action as part of government's actions to deal with socio-economic disparaties.

There are no two camps in the new constitution. There is one camp, that is South Africa and we are all living in it and have a duty to build unity. The ANC must deposit the song in its heritage bank and call on the ANCYL to stop singing the song, and call for unity in our country. If no action is taken to disarm the ANCYL's destructive missiles, the gain of the Rainbow Nation will certainly dissapear. We cannot allow Julius Malema to send us back to a place where blacks and whites hate each other.President Zuma must take action and call Julius Malema to order. How can we standby and watch our country head straight for civil war on account of a single indicidual who is not soley responsible for the democracy we all built? We have no balls!

mysundaytimes