Sunday, April 11, 2010

Untitled (South Africa)




The single most publicised event of the Bophuthatswana coup was the killing of three wounded AWB members who were shot dead at point-blank range in front of journalists by a Bophuthatswana police constable, Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe.
AWB Colonel Alwyn Wolfaardt, AWB General Johannes Fourie and Veldkornet (Field Cornet) Jacobus Stephanus Uys were driving a blue Mercedes at the end of a convoy of AWB vehicles, firing into a crowd of Bophuthatswanan civilians. Members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force returned fire and hit the driver of the car, Nicolaas Fourie, in the neck, another gunman, Alwyn Wolfaardt, in the arm and the remaining gunman, Jacobus Uys, in the leg. When Wolfaardt got out of the car and waved a pistol, a Bophuthatswana police officer quickly took his pistol. Another policeman tried to fire on journalists but his rifle jammed and it was taken from him by another policeman. The wounded survivor Alwyn Wolfaardt waved a pistol but was advised not to start shooting by nearby journalists.
Menyatsoe approached and spoke to Wolfaardt, asking if he was a member of the AWB. Wolfaardt confirmed this, saying they came from Naboomspruit
, and pleaded for his life and the lives of the other two wounded AWB members. Menyatsoe then shot the three wounded men dead at point blank range with an R4 rifle, saying "what are you doing in my country". The shooting was captured by the watching journalists and broadcast worldwide.
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