By Mercury Reporters
The man who vowed at the weekend that Eugene Terre'Blanche's death would be avenged, dramatically lost his cool on prime time TV last night, threatening a political analyst for daring to interrupt him, then belligerently turning on the anchor who tried to defend her.
AWB secretary-general Andre Visagie was appearing with political analyst Lebohang Pheko on e.tv's current affairs show Africa 360, to discuss race relations in the wake of Terre'Blanche's murder.
Afrikaans bulletin covering the incident
And just as the ANC is battling to control Julius Malema, so too it appears the AWB may have its own unguided missile in the form of Visagie.
It emerged last night that Visagie might have more on his mind than just his leader's death, and that the AWB appeared to be involved in a leadership battle of its own, with Visagie pitted against the man who has since succeeded Terre'Blanche, Steyn van Ronge.
During the recording of the show, which is broadcast on e.tv and its satellite 24-hour channel every Sunday, an agitated Visagie took exception to Pheko's interrupting him and lost his temper.
The altercation had Visagie ripping off his microphone and leaving the set, only to reappear shaking his finger at Pheko and declaring: "You won't dare interrupt me."
Anchor Chris Maroleng came to Pheko's defence and tried to restrain Visagie.
But his efforts were not appreciated and an argument ensued, which looked set to deteriorate into a physical altercation, until crew members intervened.
Accompanied by a bodyguard, Visagie stormed off, but not before turning back to an astounded Pheko, saying: "I am not finished with you."
A protesting Maroleng was heard saying: "Mr Visagie, stop threatening this woman now," and: "Why are you threatening this woman?"
Visagie, however, was in no mood to back off and complained that Pheko had referred to white capitalists, yet she did not look poor. Accompanied by his bodyguard, he stormed out.
Pheko, the daughter of former PAC president Motsoko Pheko, told The Mercury that she was not surprised at Visagie's behaviour.
"He has been agitated for some time and his threatening actions tonight were not spurred on by the particular debate, but was more a build-up of rage and anger over a long period of time."
She said the debate had included a discussion on broader issues relating to the transfer of power and the economy and its effect on race relations.
"He implied that Afrikaners were special and entitled to assets of the country, but as a new nation it is important to get behind all cultural and racial groups.
"He mentioned 3 000 white farmers killed, but could not comment on the thousands of black people who have been killed.
"So many have been 'mistaken' for monkeys and shot, others have died after dogs have been set on them, and what about the black staff who were urinated on at the Free State University?"
She said there was no place for revenge in South Africa.
It appeared last night that Visagie was in conflict with his leadership.
He went on the Kyknet satellite channel on Tuesday and repudiated the AWB leadership's earlier statement that it would refrain from violent retaliation.
Reached for comment, new AWB leader Steyn van Ronge made clear that Visagie was ill-disciplined and believed he was the movement's leader.
While he did not want to wash the AWB's dirty laundry in public, he intimated that there was some sort of leadership battle within the movement
"This is not about an individual, it is about the Volk," Van Ronge said, declining to go into details.
He said the AWB executive council had elected him leader on Monday, and that this was in fact in line with Terre'Blanche's own wishes.
He was in possession of a letter from an ill Terre'Blanche, dated March 12, asking him to take over the AWB leadership.
However, Visagie did not want to accept this.
Van Ronge said the executive council would meet again tomorrow to discuss Visagie's conduct and refusal to stick to the movement's line of non-retaliation.
"He will have to deal with the consequence," Van Ronge said.
Visagie could not be reached for comment.
Source: http://www.iol.co.za
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