Investigation and Trial
Thomas Vorster, a top military intelligence officer under the apartheid regime, was arrested for his alleged involvement into the attacks shortly after they occurred. Twenty white men in the Boeremag organisation, including Vorster, were subsequently charged with: treason for their part in the bombings; the murder of Claudia Makone; attempted murder for a plot to kill Nelson Mandela with a car bomb; and conspiracy to overthrow the government. According to The Namibian, 26 pipe bombs were found in a rural area of Cape Province by police searching for the terrorists responsible for the attacks.
There was a heavy police presence in the area where the trial of the men took place, to prevent further attacks and escape attempts. There was speculation that several officers in the South African police and military had had links to the attacks. The trial was expected to last more than two years, and is still ongoing at the time of this writing (2005).
The trial was adjourned several times due to legal arguments. It soon became politicised as Paul Kruger, the defence lawyer, argued that the South African government was illegitimate and unconstitutional, and that the first multi-racial elections in the country had not been valid, as white voters had never been consulted. The defence originally planned to call the former President of South Africa, FW De Klerk, as a witness to prove their case. The court later ruled that he could not be forced to stand.
At trial, the alleged terrorists claimed that they had been subject to torture in the jail in which they were being held. They had, in fact, been forced at times to listen to very loud rap music and kwaito in the Pretoria prison in which they were being held. The judge presiding over the case, Eberhardt Bertelsmann, forbade the prison authorities from broadcasting Metro FM, the offending radio station. However, the defendants had to buy portable radios and batteries for the inmates who wanted to continue listening to the music.
Read more about this topic: 2002 Soweto Bombings
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