White Pastor Plotted To Kill Thousands of Black South Africans

A South African court has convicted a pastor of plotting to overthrow the government and murder thousands of Black South Africans.Harry Johannes Knoesen, 61, a National Christian Resistance Movement leader, was found guilty on Monday of high treason, incitement to carry out violent attacks, and recruiting people to commit attacks. According to the prosecution, Knoesen’s group considered using a biological weapon to infect and kill Black people, including poisoning water reservoirs that served Black communities. The Middelburg High Court also found Knoesen guilty of unlawful possession of firearms. When he was apprehended in Middelburg, a small town in the eastern Mpumalanga province, weapons and ammunition were discovered. The pastor’s group’s plot was thwarted in 2019 by South Africa’s police and intelligence services, who dismantled the organization’s cells across the country and arrested some of its leaders.Knoesen was convicted based on evidence from witnesses, including members of his group who are already in prison for similar crimes. According to the state, Knoesen’s plot was motivated by his “highly racial views,” and he attempted to justify his beliefs on religious grounds, claiming that he was ordained to “reclaim South Africa for white people.” “To further this end, he planned to attack government institutions and more specifically police and military institutions,”  Monica Nyuswa, a National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman, told The Associated Press.He also named townships and informal settlements …

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