Col-ret. Thys Eagar and wife: nearly murdered on 30th anniversary of “Operation Sceptic” against Swapo by his SADF-61st Mechanical Division…
Retired SADF 61st Mechanical Corps colonel Thys Eagar, 78, and his 74-year-old wife survived a vicious torture-attack by armed black men who broke through the roof of their home at 3am Saturday-morning. Ironically, this attack against the retired pantser-officer and his wife took place exactly 30 years after Operation Sceptic – the powerful sweep against Swapo during the Angolan border war, and in which col. Eagar’s pantsers of the 61st Mechanical Corps had played a major role on June 10 1980.
Col. Eagar suffered a crushed cheekbone, broken ribs and stab-wounds - and his wife was also repeatedly kicked and stabbed. The black male attackers were still busy throttling the couple - obviously trying to kill them, since they made no demands. The colonel had already lost consciousness by the time the SAPS showed up, saving them just in time – and capturing one attacker. Hilda Fourie of Beeld newspaper reports that the couple are now recovering at the Unitas Hospital in Centurion.
- Last year, Colonel Eagar and his comrades in the SADF 61st Mechanical Corps veterans held a commemorative ceremony to honour their fallen comrades from Operation Sceptic at Fort Schanskop at the Voortrekker monument - which was also attended by Ret. General Janny Geldenhuys.
Needless, excessive violence against two unarmed old people:
The couple didn’t hear the men breaking in through the ceiling because both suffer from hearing problems. Mrs Eagar, who said the attack took place a day after her 74th birthday, woke up when people fell on them. “I woke up when two people fell right on top of us on our bed,’ she told Beeld journalist Fourie. “I screamed so loudly that our woman neighbour apparently heard it. That’s also when the struggle and the torture started. ‘
One black man pushed a knife against her throat, then tossed her roughly from the bed and tied up her hands and feet – and repeatedly stabbed the defenceless old military wife with a knife and also kicked her. Colonel Eagar also suffered the same fate. “I asked them in their own language, Zulu, whether they wanted food or money, or what it was they wanted. The only reaction I got from them was a crushing blow with something really hard against my cheek, which broke the cheekbone,’ he said. One of the men then threw a blanket over Mrs Eagar and started to throttle her. Colonel Eagar said he also lost conscienceness twice while they were throttling him. “I just knew I was going to die…’ His wife added: “My husband stopped complaining and then I thought he was dead. They ripped off her wedding band and stole their two cellphones. And then thing got quiet – and she felt someone untying her bonds. When she opened her eyes, she looked into the face of a police officer.
Their son André Eagar (50), said the neighbour woke up from all the screaming and noticing that the lights were on in the Eagar home, contacted the police and other neighbours in the complex. The police showed up while the attackers were beating up (and throttling) the couple and arrested one man who was still in the bedroom.
He was named as Siphiwe Phakathi, 21 -- who is expected to appear Monday in the Pretoria magistrate’s court – but mysteriously, only on a charge of housebreaking, not of attempted murder. said captain Agnes Huma. Police are searching for a second man, who’d gotten away in time. “We are grateful that we are still alive,’ said colonel Eagar. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Slagoffer-van-huisrooftog-dink-man-is-dood-toe-hy-ophou-kla-20100609
SADF veterans ‘objected to militancy and combat-gear worn by former ANC-MK veterans”
Col. Eagar is the secretary for the SADF Association, the working committee of ex-military officers which tries to help homeless veterans from the pre-1994 SADF He also runs the website for the SADF 61st Pantser Corps.
- In 2009 the SADF association issued a statement expressing their concern about the ‘militant behaviour of the uniformed Umkhonte-we-Sizwe (ANC military wing)’s veterans (who had invaded the seat of power in Pretoria, the Union Buildings, and had engaged the SAPS in battle while protesting against their pay and living conditions. The SADFA ‘s Infantry league also said in a statement this was ‘not in line with the spirit of military veterans and we distantiate ourselves from this behaviour. They also objected to the MK-veterans wearing their combat-uniforms at public meetings. http://www.sawv.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79:nuusbrief-252009-vir-militere-veterane&catid=35:archive--argief&Itemid=43 His email address is Eagarteagar@absamail.co.za
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