South Africa Today = Queensland Tomorrow

 

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-04-06-free-state-farmer-is-new-awb-leader

A farmer from the southern Free State was announced as the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging’s (AWB) new leader on Tuesday.

Steyn van Ronge, a member of the movement for more than 20 years, vowed to pursue the AWB’s goal of returning to God and uniting the “volk”.

His election followed the murder of AWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche at his Ventersdorp farm on Saturday and the charging of two people for the killing.

He said that since Terre’Blanche’s murder the AWB had received “thousands” of new membership applications.

“We will not allow an incident of this nature to occur again,” he said.

The organisation was implementing a security plan that entailed protecting “our people”, he said, without disclosing any further details.

Van Ronge said Terre’Blanche’s wife, Martie, was with her family and “holding up well under the circumstances”.

He said any action taken by the AWB in implementing its security plan would fall within the laws of the country.

The organisation would, however, not take responsibility for individual members deciding to avenge Terre’Blanche’s death, nor their reaction to inflammatory statements by ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, or the government’s “slow response to crime”.

“Thousands” of people countrywide were expected at Terre’Blanche’s funeral service at the Afrikaans Protestant church in the town on Friday morning.

He would be buried on his farm outside the town afterwards.

Van Ronge was speaking outside Terre’Blanche’s Ventersdorp house in front of an ox wagon on the stoep, while three German shepherds played on the lawn.

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Fear grips off-duty police

Daniel Knowles | From: The Sunday Mail (Qld) | April 10, 2010

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/fear-grips-off-duty-police/story-e6freon6-1225852188047

QUEENSLAND police officers are changing out of their uniforms for fear of being targeted while off duty on Brisbane trains.

According to an anonymous letter to the Queensland Police Union Journal, one officer complained that high-ranking officers were concerned uniformed police were hiding under plain shirts and jackets to avoid attention.

“Many of our members travel on public transport and often make use of a cover shirt in order to prevent harassment and possibly being assaulted by some of the undesirable passengers,” the letter says.

“I am also fully aware of the reason police wearing uniform on public transport is to provide a high visibility, however, with due respect to those who hold plain clothes positions and also utilise public transport, one has to question the validity of the high-visibility concept.

“Members work their required hours and as such should then be afforded the opportunity to travel home without having some grub, who probably doesn’t have a ticket, give them a hard time.”

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