EUGENE MARAIS
Mr Chairman, I really only began to become interested in  politics in 1980 while  I was at university in Bloemfontein.  That year there was a general election, and we as students were recruited to help with this election.  Former Minister Kobie Coetzee stood there for the National Party and I served in his team to work on voting day.  In fact he won that election and that was a great pleasure for all of us.
After that I went to the defence force for my national service.  In 1983 there was a referendum.  We were in the defence force and we had a very restricted knowledge of what was going on outside.  On a particular morning we were told here's a referendum, you're are in the defence force, you vote for the Government so you must say "Yes".
And so then I did vote yes without really knowing what was going on.  After the completion of my national service, I became increasingly involved in politics and particularly right-wing politics.  It became very clear to me that what the National Party had promised before the referendum of '83 had not been complied with or achieved.  On the contrary, certain things that they said, they had gone on to do precisely the opposite.  This upset me greatly and I listed increasingly to and became increasingly involved in the Conservative Party and in conservative politics.
I joined them, and in the next election I worked for them.  I canvassed for them and went from house to house and I also acted as an electoral agent on various occasions.  In about 1987 I was approached by a friend who invited me to an AWB meeting.  I attended it and I found it most interesting.
What was said there was very interesting, and it was precisely reflected my feelings and I became convinced that I should join the AWB and I did so.  I also progressed in the AWB.  At Kempton Park I even became the leader of the so-called Burgerraad.  In 1990 I moved from Witwatersrand to Richards Bay where I began my own business.
I became acquainted with a person, and from our conversation it became clear that he was a member of the AWB and that is how he introduced himself to me.  A little while later he introduced me to Mr Botha as the local leader/Kommandant of the AWB.