Ventersdorp: South Africa`s President Jacob Zuma on Sunday called for calm over the murder of white supremacist leader Eugene Terre`Blanche, as his party vowed to avenge the killing.
The 69-year-old leader of the fiery Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) was brutally killed by black workers on his farm on Saturday evening, sparking renewed fears on race tensions.
His party has vowed to avenge his murder.
AWB secretary-general Andre Visagie said that the group would meet on May 01 to plan the way forward.
"We will decide upon our actions to avenge Mr Terre`Blanche`s death. We will take action and the specific action...will be decided upon at our conference," said Visagie.
Zuma urged South Africans to remain calm as opposition parties and groups warned that the far-right leader`s killing had created a potentially explosive situation.
"The President appeals for calm following this terrible deed and asks South Africans not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fuelling racial hatred," a statement from Zuma`s office said.
Terre`Blanche was hacked to death by workers on his farm outside the farming town of Ventersdorp, in the north west of the country.
Two men, aged 21 and 15, who were workers on the farm have been arrested for the murder and will appear in court on Tuesday, police said.
They claim that a fight with the feared leader ensued after he refused to pay them their monthly wages of 300 rand (USD 41/EUR 30), local media reported.
According to the Sunday Times newspaper, the two workers notified the police after the incident and waited for them to arrive.
Terre`Blanche`s bloodied body was found in his bed with facial and head injuries, a machete still embedded in his flesh and a knob-headed stick nearby.
"They also alleged that Terre`Blanche was a bad boss who used to physically and verbally abuse them. They claim that he pushed them too far," a police source told the Sunday Times.
Terre`Blanche`s supporters, who wear khaki uniforms and the organisation`s swastika-like symbol, violently opposed South Africa`s all-race democracy and campaigned for a self-governing white state.
Their campaign included bomb attacks ahead of the 1994 polls, which ended the white minority apartheid state.
Violence on farms, which remain overwhelmingly in white hands 16 years after apartheid ended, is high in South Africa with 1,248 farmers and farm workers killed between 1997 and 2007.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) blamed the singing of songs such as "kill the Boer", saying they created a climate in which violence is seen as an appropriate response to problems.
"Violence has never been a solution to South Africa’s enormous challenges," said the party in a statement.
Meanwhile, the black conscious movement, the Azanian Peoples Organisation (Azapo) said Terre`Blanche died in the same manner in which he killed black defenceless farm workers in Ventersdorp.
"Azapo never rejoiced on the murder of any person, black or white, rich or poor. But the murder of Eugene Terre`Blanche left us with a combination of sadness, awe, confusion and a tinge of suppressed excitement," spokesman Funani ka Ntontela told Sapa news agency.
"We are sad that Mr TerreBlache died in the manner in which he died, murdered in cold blood. Sadly, this is how he killed black defenceless farm workers in Ventersdorp," said Ntontela.
Bureau Report
