Boeremag

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A filling station in Soweto said to have been bombed by the Boeremag. As of December 2005 it remains closed and unrepaired.

The Boeremag (Afrikaans: Boer Force) is allegedly a South African right-wing activism group with white separatist aims and is accused of planning to overthrow the ruling African National Congress government. ^[1] reminiscent of the era when Boers administered independent republics during the 19th century following the Great Trek.

Some Boeremag sympathisers claim that the African National Congress has seized power in South Africa illegally, and that organised gangs are secretly trained by the ANC and rewarded via a bounty system for killing white farmers.^{[citation needed]}

Opponents of the Boeremag claim the Boeremag it is an atavistic terrorist organization. South African law enforcement officials charge that the Boeremag was responsible for the 2002 Soweto bombings and arrested twenty-six men, alleged to be members of the Boeremag in November and December 2002, and claimed that they had seized over 1,000 kilograms of explosives in the process. Further arrests followed in March 2003.

The first trial of Boeremag suspects began under tight security in Pretoria during May of 2003. Twenty-two men were charged with forty-two counts of treason, murder, and illegal weapons possession. Six pleaded not guilty, two have not entered pleas, one refuses to plead, and thirteen are challenging the court's jurisdiction, alleging that the post-apartheid constitution and government of South Africa are illegitimate.

In early May 2006 Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws, two of the leading members being tried, were reported to have escaped due to police incompetence.^[2] This is not the only possible conclusion, however, as the court was lined daily by heavily armed policemen equipped with state-of-the-art communication equipment, and nobody could leave or enter the courtroom without a thorough body search. Another possibility is abduction by police officers, some of whom have been recorded in the trial records in the specific case to have allegedly abducted and tortured Boeremag-accused members on previous occasions (sworn affidavit by Johan Pretorius, and other documents), and who are also on record in this trial as allegedly having visited witnesses and interfered with evidence (see court records of the Boeremag trial). The two men were recaptured on 20 January 2007^[3] , and were set to appear in court to face charges of escape and the illegal possession of firearms.