A Hout Bay mom has called for an investigation into a “bogus army” in Athlone who she claims has been training her teen son “to become a terrorist”.
Speaking to the Daily Voice just days after being rescued from the base camp, the 19-year-old says he was told that they would be trained “to kill wit mense and k@ff!rs” and take the land back for coloureds.
The family asked to remain anonymous as they fear victimisation.
The 40-year-old mother says they were told about a meeting at the Hangberg Multi-Purpose Hall in February for recruitment to the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
“My son went but there was no meeting,” she says.
A week later the boy came to tell his mother he was leaving with the army the next day.
“So I had to pack enough toiletries for three months and his Allergex medication,” she says.
The teen left his home on 3 March and says after arriving at the premises in Petunia Street, Bridgetown, they knew something was wrong.
“There were no uniforms, we were told to sleep in a broken hall and one morning they made us jog and I blacked out,” he says.
“They did not give me my Allergex and I got sick. They told me: ‘ Jy moet eerste omkap’.”
‘ARMY-STYLE’: General Gary Lakay. Photo: Jack Lestrade/Daily Voice
The mother says she got a skrik last week when she read a Daily Voice article about the rescue of a Strandfontein man from the South African Corps Military Veterans Association (SACCMA).
“I read and I saw about that child getting sick and thought, ‘no man, that is my child’, so on Thursday I went there and fetched him. I found a six-year-old boy there and they told me he is also a recruit and I thought, ‘no man this is not right’.
“My son told me about them wanting to kill black and white people so they’re basically training the children to be terrorists,” the mother says.
The teen says shortly before he left, General Gary Lakay asked who wanted to leave and a big group indicated yes.
“He said if we go home they (SACCMA) will come fetch us and there is nothing we can do.
“Then he said: ‘Hulle soek nie wit mense of k@ff!rs daar nie, net coloureds, want hulle wil die wit mense en die swart mense dood maak en die land terug vat vir die coloureds’.”
Last week Lakay and Brigadier Ronnie Koopman said they were recruiting youngsters for their three-month programme, which they describe as “an intense army-style discipline routine”.
“We target children who are on drugs or in gangs. We are an old army, we are placing discipline in them, drills, neatness and religious studies,” Lakay said.
Koopman yesterday said they only recruit people 18 years and older “for the army of the Khoisan Kingdom” and denied children were being taught to kill.
He also denied using the K-word.
KHOISAN MISSION: Ronnie Koopman. Photo: Jack Lestrade/Daily Voice
“I don’t know about someone blacking out,” he said of the 19-year-old’s claims.
“We are being trained to secure the Khoisan Kingdom in the Western Cape and as far as the Northern Cape. They will learn how to handle firearms but there isn’t firearms yet.
“In the future when the kings are in the Khoisan castles they (the recruits) will secure it. We are the First Nation Defence Force.”
He confirmed they do not recruit white or black youngsters and says their army is “only for Khoisan children”