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South Africa's neo-Nazis drop revenge vow

South African white supremicist leader Eugene Terreblanche, pictured in 2004, was bludgeoned to death on his farm.
South African white supremicist leader Eugene Terreblanche, pictured in 2004, was bludgeoned to death on his farm.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • AWB spokesman retracts vow to avenge leader's death
  • He said original statement made by an "emotional member" of the AWB
  • Eugene Terreblanche was bludgeoned and stabbed to death
  • Two of Terreblanche's farm workers scheduled to appear in court Tuesday
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Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) -- A South African white supremacist group has retracted its statement vowing to avenge the killing of its leader, Eugene Terreblanche, a spokesman for the group said Monday.

"The statement was made by an emotional member of our organization," said Pieter Steyn, a spokesman for the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, also called the Afrikaner Resistance Movement or AWB.

"The person has been reprimanded. We want a homeland where we can govern ourselves, and violence is not going to do our cause any good."

Terreblanche was killed Saturday following an apparent dispute over wages with workers on his farm, according to South African police.

Two of his farm workers ages 21 and 16 are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday after turning themselves in, police said.

Police said the 69-year-old was bludgeoned and stabbed to death with clubs and a machete in an attack at his farm near the town of Ventersdorp in South Africa's North West Province.

Video: Eugene Terreblanche killed

Steyn told CNN he is pleased with the work of the South African police, who said there would be a heavy police presence at Tuesday's court appearance.

The AWB has blamed the killing on the singing of a controversial apartheid-era song, "Shoot the Farmer."

The ruling African National Congress party's youth leader, Julius Malema, had sung the song in recent weeks until a court ruling barred him from doing so.

Steyn called on South African President Jacob Zuma to act to ease tensions. "He needs to address Julius Malema urgently," Steyn said. "We are finding it difficult to keep our members calm under the current circumstances. If farm murders continue, we cannot guarantee that our members will continue refraining from retaliating."

Terreblanche's death comes amid a time of racial polarization in the country.

Analysis: Terreblanche's death stokes racial tensions

Zuma on Sunday appealed for calm Sunday amid fears the killing of notorious white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche could stoke racial tensions in the country.

In a statement on the South African presidency's Web site, Zuma said he had spoken to Terreblanche's daughter to express his "sincere condolences."

"I call upon our people, black and white to remain calm, and allow police and other organs of state to do their work," Zuma said.

Terreblanche's AWB is best known for trying to block South Africa's effort to end apartheid. The group used terrorist tactics in a bid to stall the country's first all-race vote in 1994, killing more than 20 people in a wave of bombings on the eve of the elections.

Terreblanche was convicted of the 1996 attempted murder of Paul Motshabi, a black man who worked as a security guard on Terreblanche's farm. He served about two-thirds of a five-year sentence.

He was also convicted of setting his dog on a black man in an earlier incident.

CNN's Robyn Curnow and Nkepile Mabuse contributed to this report from Johannesburg.