Wall of Shame - SA Special Forces League

Wall of Shame

WALL OF SHAME

The individuals listed on this forum are those who have falsely claimed to be
Qualified South African Special Forces Operators,
or who have falsely claimed to have served in / with / detached to Special Forces.

Individuals who publicly make unsubstantiated false and defamatory statements regarding Special Forces,
and who present these unsubstantiated false and defamatory statements as fact will also be listed on this forum.

These individuals are to be found in all walks of life.
From the Board room to the Bar room, in civilian, military and law-enforcement circles,
in academic and research environments, in virtually all or any occupations.

They share no common denominator other than dishonesty.

Such individuals steal the honour of the real Operators, and they dishonour the name of Special Forces.

They are a disgrace to themselves and their country.

They prey upon the good intentions of people by falsely and dishonestly
trying to solicit attention, sympathy, unearned respect or some other aspect of personal gain.

All names placed on this site will remain here until the South African Special Forces League receives a written apology
from persons who have falsely claimed Qualified Operator status, or who have publicly made unsubstantiated
false and defamatory statements regarding Special Forces and presented these as fact.

Once a written apology is received, we will annotate the relevant entry accordingly.
Removal of names will be subject to approval by our National Committee.

If, after having his or her name removed from this page,
an individual is thereafter found to make the same or similar claims or statements again,
the individual's name will be re-published on this Wall of Shame,
and will never be removed.

WITHOUT PREJUDICE
MEDIA "RECCES"
In media reports we often see that a person, who is being reported on, is referred to as having been "an ex-recce" or "a former recce" with some rank assigned to him. These individuals usually do not control the content of media reports, but in cases where they are not qualified SA Special Forces Operators or proven former members of SA Special Forces Units, we will name them here.

Mr Adriaan van Wyk
From Pretoria, South Africa

(added August 2012)

Mr van Wyk was recently found guilty of treason in the well publicized "Boeremag" treason trial and is reported in the media to be "a former recce" and major in the Wonderboom Commando.

Mr van Wyk was never at any time a Special Forces Operator, or even a Special Forces member, in the South African army -

highly trained or otherwise -and is not and has never been associated with Special Forces Operators. The SA Special Forces League

strongly dissociates itself from Mr van Wyk and all media reports claiming him to be "a former recce".

HARDCORE WANNABES
JP Fourie Claims made on radio and in a book, the Last Rhino (added January 2013) Mr JP Fourie appeared on a local SA radio station as "ex-Special Forces" during an interview on the Purple Rhino Project. In a book, the Last Rhino, written by Lawrence Anthony, about another rhino project, JP Fourie is referred to as an "ex-Special Forces operative", "an officer in South Africa's crack recce battalion", "a senior officer in South Africa's top Special Forces regiment". The SA Special Forces and the SA Special Forces League has no ties with JP Fourie. He worked in the Personnel department at 7 Medical Battalion Group in 1991-1992. He has never earned the qualification and the right to be called a SA Special Forces operator. The SA Special Forces League strongly dissociates itself from JP Fourie and strongly disapproves of the various claims made in the media mentioned. The Sotis Group and Tom Sotis
Claims made via several web sites (added September 2012)
The Sotis Group and Tom Sotis make claims via several web sites that they have trained, and are thus involved with, SA Special Forces or the SA Special Forces League. Through his AMOK! Group claims of revolutionary activities are made, possibly implicating the SA Special Forces. The SA Special Forces and the SA Special Forces League has no ties with The Sotis Group, Tom Sotis or members of his organizations.
The SA Special Forces League strongly dissociates itself from The Sotis Group, Tom Sotis or members of his organizations and strongly disapproves of the various claims made via his web sites.
Note : October 2012 : We received an e-mail from Mr Sotis about the above.An answer is being prepared and will be posted here in due course.
E-mail response to a letter from Mr Sotis posted here : Wall of Shame Responses

Mr Reon Schutte
From Boulder, Colorado, USA (added July 2012)

Mr Schutte claims to be "an elite South African Special Forces soldier" on his web site www.reonschutte.com and that he was "commandeered to
the *Special Forces Unit*". In addition to this, Mr Schutte also brandishes documents with a self made unit flash containing
a Fairbairn Sykes dagger at the top and an operators badge to the top left of the unit flash.

Mr Schutte was never at any time a Special Forces Operator, or even a Special Forces member, in the South African army - highly trained
or otherwise -and is not and has never been associated with Special Forces Operators. The SA Special Forces League strongly dissociates itself from Mr Schutte and strongly disapproves of his blatant misuse of our insignia.

Note : October 2012 : We were advised that some communication took place between concerned people and supporters of Mr Schutte that resulted in changes to some of the wording on his web site. Mr Schutte has not communicated with us directly at all.
Mr Sameul "Sammy" Brett
From Blompark, Gansbaai (near Hermanus), Western Cape, South Africa (added July 2012)

Mr Brett claims that he - as a self proclaimed perlemoen poacher - is able to outwit the police and evade arrest and prosecution because he uses his skills from when he was a Recce. He claims to have been an operator in Durban.
He tells anyone who will listen and boasts of his time with the Recce's and how the training has made him such a clandestine perlemoen poacher. He also claims to be trained in night operations, anti tracking etc etc.

Mr Bret was never at any time a Special Forces Operator, or even a Special Forces member, in the South African army - highly trained
or otherwise -and is not and has never been associated with Special Forces Operators. The SA Special Forces League strongly dissociates itself from Mr Brett, who only did national service training at the Cape Coloured Corps and was a private.

Mr Petrus Hendrik Swart
From Harrismith, Orange Free State, South Africa(added July 2012)

Mr Swart tells that he was apparently in the SA Special Forces in the '90's, where he received training under Wouter Basson and Eugene de Kok,
He was sent on a mission into Africa somewhere and his team was killed and he was left for dead but he
managed to fight his way back to South Africa where, upon his return, Wouter Basson wept.
His files have been "taken care of", if the TRC were to find them he would be sentenced for life!
He has done special ops work in Irac, Iran, Afganistan numerous other African countries as well as South America.
Mr Swart was never at any time a Special Forces Operator, or even a Special Forces member, in the South African army - highly trained
or otherwise - and is not and has never been associated with Special Forces Operators. The SA Special Forces League strongly dissociates itself from Mr Swart and his blatant lies.

Mr Abdul Rhemaan Vorgers
From Despatch, Port Elizabeth, South Africa(added July 2012)

Mr Vorgers states in his CV that he is a "Reconnaissance Operator", did "Advance Special Tactics'
at the "Parachute Squandron" (sic) and worked at 2nd Reconnersins unit CPT (sic).
In addition to this he includes several falsified certificates from "5th Reconersins, Phalaborwa, Limpopo" (sic) with his CV.
The elementary spelling mistakes in his CV leave a lot to be desired.
Mr Vorgers was never at any time a Special Forces Operator, or even a Special Forces member, in the South African army - highly trained or otherwise - and is not and has never been associated with Special Forces Operators. The SA Special Forces League strongly dissociates itself from Mr Vorgers and his blatant lies and falsification of documents.
Note : October 2012 : We received the following written apology from Mr Vorgers:>>> <e-mail address kept confidential> August 16, 2012 13:57 >>>
My name is Abdul Vorgers. I see my name is on the Shame list. I don't no who to right this to for someone to understand. I made this up to get better work. To provide for my family. I won't lie I always wanted to train in the special forces. I am so sure I would of made it. I do apologies for in salting you all please find a way to look over this and understand why did this. I no its a shame to you guys and I am sorry. I always wanted to go to the army I sighed up so many times but no come backs yes or no. Please except my apologies. Kind regards Abdul Vorgers
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Mr Cornelius Theron
From Wellington, Palm Beach County, Florida, USA(added April 2012)Mr Theron has a web page where he makes numerous bogus claims such as the following: Cornelius Theron served as officer in the South African military for 8 years in multiple military departments like 7 SA Infantry and Green Berets as well as Military Intelligence. He was also stationed in VTH and Liberty Life. Some operational duties included the Rhodesian (Zimbabwe) War, South West Africa Namibia/Angola War, Mozambique Border Control War, as well as Urban Combat and Riot Control in locations such as Soweto, Alexandria, Sharpeville and Johannesburg South Africa. Some SADF battalions and regiments that he fought and served with included 7 SAI South African Infantry, Green Berets Spec Forces, Military Intelligence, 32 Buffalo Battalion, 1 RECCE Regiment, 61 Mechanized Battalion or 61 Mech Unit and Koevoet, a South African and South West Africa paramilitary unit. Some of our enemy combatants were ANC, Cosatu, SACP, Umkhonto we Sizwe, MPLA. Soviet Union, KGB, Cuban Mercenaries, Frelimo, PAC, SWAPO, FAPLA, UDF and South African Communist Party. Some extreme military combat operations included Operation Protea, Operation Askari and Operation Modular in Angola. Mr Theron was never at any time a Special Forces Operator, or even a Special Forces member, in the South African army - highly trained or otherwise - and is not and has never been associated with Special Forces Operators. The SA Special Forces League strongly dissociates itself from Mr Theron.
He even did some of the above whilst he was still at school! Note : Mr Theron has since changed some of the wording on his web site, opting to slander South Africa and Special Forces in particular,
showing his lack of class and lack of quality of the soldier he claims to be.
Mr Gerrie Cronje
From the 'Shepherds Bush Bible Kibbutz' - wherever that may be Mr Cronje gave an interview to the newspaper 'Die Burger', in which he made false and bogus claims that he had been a Special Forces Operator, and conducted unsavoury activities while being a Special Forces Operator. The article in question gave the following introduction to Mr Cronje's quote:-
'In the 1980's he was a member of the Special Forces; the recces who got their hands full of blood on the Angolan border in the so-called Bush War'.
Mr Cronje then went on to state that:-
' There I killed many people, sometimes just for fun'.
The newspaper then goes on to report that when carrying out these activities he used to reportedly:-
'blindfold and execute 'the enemy'.
Mr Cronje was never at any time a Special Forces Operator in the South African Army. He is a liar, and he brings the name of our Operators and the South African Special Forces into disrepute with his ludicrous and false statements. He dishonours our many colleagues who were killed in action, as well as their families.
As and when a written apology is received from Mr Cronje, we will consider removing his name from the site.

Mr Trevor Nel
From East London
Mr Nel has had interactions with the South African Police Services in respect of several alleged transgressions and transgressions of the law. In several newspaper articles following his most recent arrest, he was reported to be 'a highly trained member of the army's Special Forces' . This was apparently as a result of statements which he made to the police which indicated same.
Mr Nel was never at any time a Special Forces Operator in the South African army - highly trained or otherwise - and is not and has never been associated with Special Forces Operators. As and when a written apology is received from Mr Nel, we will consider removing his name from the site. Mr Jacobus Venter
From East London Was sentenced to prison in the Grahamstown High Court for murder. During his trial he falsely claimed in the High Court to have been 'a Recce', and as a result it was reported in the Eastern Province press that 'a Recce had been sentenced to prison for murder'.
Mr Venter was never at any time a Special Forces Operator in the South African army, and is not and has never been associated with Special Forces Operators. As and when a written apology is received from Mr Venter, we will consider removing his name from the site. Mr Hermanus Phillipus Herbst
From Namibia Murdered 2 people in Namibia, and then falsely claimed (as part of his attempted Diminished Responsibility Defence) in the Namibian Supreme Court in Windhoek to be 'a Recce suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, whose files had been destroyed by Special Forces'. This defence was supported by his Psychologist. An expert witness discredited him by producing his real military records, which showed that he had been a National Service infantryman in Potchefstroom. He then dropped his claim of having been 'a Recce', but still maintained that he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - this time from an 'Unhappy Childhood'. This change in cause of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was again supported by his Psychologist.

Information received recently indicated Mr Herbst subsequently expired in jail due to heart failure. (July 2012)

Mr Bryan Bennets
From Phoenix, Arizona, USA Mr Bennets enjoys the rare distinction of being on both our Wall of Shame, and the Hall of Shame of VeriSeal, (a US Navy SEALs veterans authentication organisation) at the same time. Whenever Mr Bennets takes a break from falsely claiming to have been a US Navy SEAL, he then makes false claims of having been 'in the South African Commandos' to people in the United States, whereas he has never been remotely associated with us. As and when a written apology is received from Mr Bennets, we will consider removing his name from the site. Mr Dave de Wet
Location in South Africa unknown (for now) This individual saw fit to provide the Magazine 'FHM' with a series of columns, entitled:- 'Dave de Wet's Sex Challenge - Ex-reccie sharpshooter gives his top shagging tips'. Not only has Mr de Wet never been a Special Forces Operator, (Recce), he has picked a particularly vulgar and distasteful manner in which to publicly sully the name of our Special Forces, and the memory of our many Brother Operators who have paid the Supreme Sacrifice - not to mention the effect that such a demeaning series of articles has on the families and children of our fallen colleagues. We very, very strongly suggest to Mr de Wet that he send through a written apology to us extremely rapidly, and that he just as rapidly makes arrangements for a corrective article to appear in the magazine. Mr Rudolf Barnard
From Pretoria Mr Barnard recently provided the Magazines 'Huisgenoot' and 'You' with an interview, wherein he related how he had - while temporarily living in the USA - only survived his traumatic experiences at the hands of American Women due to his 'training as a Recce'. Other than the fact that Mr Barnard has - of course - never been remotely associated with the South African Special Forces, he has now seen fit to associate our name with this very strange complaint. As Mr Barnard was never a member of our Special Forces - let alone an Operator - and as we are not (as Mr Barnard appears to possibly be) the type of people who would run and complain to Mommy if little girls pulled our hair on the playground at school, we expect Mr Barnard to send through a written apology for his dishonest statements about his association with our Special Forces. As and when we receive such written apology, we will consider removing his name from the site

Mr Graham Murgatroyd
Currently resident in Tasmania, Australia
This loser scores a full house of 'Super-Recce stories'. Amongst other hair-raising and bloodthirsty exploits, he took part in such heavy and covert operations that 'all his files were destoyed' when he left the Recces, and were 'replaced with false documents which recorded him as an Army Postal Clerk'. Well - at least we now know what he really did in the army. This hero has also (in his dreams) been on so many covert operations in Angola, that he now suffers from (you guessed it) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He relates having being shot through the thigh in an horrific contact, but refuses to show anyone his scar. Of course, his story would not be complete without the obligatory torturing and executing of prisoners - which he apparently did en-masse. He also relates how he was tasked (as a sniper) to shadow and prepare to assasinate former President Mandela. What a disgrace to South Africa this loser is. We hope that the Australian police will interview him in respect of these stories, and hopefully deport him so that he is not able to embarrass our country there anymore with his unacceptable behaviour and ludicrous stories.

Mr Arno Barnard

Currently Residing in Westdene,Bloemfontein

(Updated July 2012)

Mr. Barnard is a very well trained and highly specialized 'Operator' who has served in both “5 Recce” and “44 MOF Squad” – according to his CV. This individual was kind enough to re-name half the courses presented in the SA Special Forces Brigade, and went further to also invent a number – “Mine Operator” & “Small Arms Warfare Close Combat Assault” to name but two…. Not only did Mr. Barnard have the gal to type-up this CV, he went further to distribute it to Iraq, where he was going to “operate” as a sniper on the road between Baghdad and Falluhja. He was lucky enough to have received a personal letter from the Honorable Minister Terror Lekota giving him “full permission” to work in Iraq. This free-fall, diver and “combat” specialist got married wearing camouflage fatigues…. this just after he has returned from Fort Brag USA where he completed a “Navy Seal” course. Oh-yes – his personal files at Defense Head Quarters “stopped to exist” early in 1993. Say no more, shame. We await your apology.

Recent reports received (July 2012) has Mr Barnard still bragging to all and sundry about his "recce exploits", now brandishing his 9mm pistol in the process. After running up a huge bill at a hotel in Norval's Point recently, he absconded without settling his bill. Very unlike an honourable soldier!

GENERAL WANNABES

The South African Special Forces League has received written communications regarding the following persons who have reportedly falsely claimed to have been Special Forces Operators / 'Recces' - which they have never been:-

Mr Robert Guy Ruggier
From Durban
Mr Godfrey Sterley
From Johannesburg
Mr Wynand Myburgh
From Durban
Mr Michael Pearce
From Johannesburg
Mr George Du Plessis
From Heidelburg
Mr Alex Gillan
From Pretoria
Mr CJ van der Merwe
From Durban
Mr Gavin Mcguinness
From Johannesburg
Mr Ben Beukes
From Middelburg
Mr Jonathon Swindon
From Johannesburg Mr Matthys Johannes De Beer
From Middelburg Mr Tom Fleetwood
From Mareetsane Mr Martin Deneyer
From Rhodes Mr Johan Stevens
From Mossel Bay Mr Brett Watson
From Randburg Mr Willem Staphorst
From Pretoria Mr Louw Wepner
From Pretoria Mr Norman Starkey
From Pretoria Mr Herman Lotriet
From Brackenfell Mr Charles J. Truter
From Johannesburg Mr Daniel Struwig
From Pretoria Mr Nicolaas Kirsten
From Orania Mr Pieter Jooste
From Klerksdorp Mr Deon Conradie
Currently resident in Botswana Mr Nick DuBois
From Pretoria Mr George Botha
From Pretoria Mr Tom Saunders
From Broederstroom Mr Frank Blignaut
From Randfontein Mr Russell Johnny Schwartz
From Johannesburg Mr David Varcoe
From Johannesburg Mr Herman Pretorius
From Pretoria Wilhelm Jacobus Heyneke
Address unknown
Works on game farms assisting hunters 'Mitch' Albertze
Address unknown Johan Claassen
From Johannesburg Works at the Saxon Hotel
As soon as these persons contact us in writing to clarify this matter, we will publish the correction with their respecitve entries..

Subpages (1): Wall of Shame Responses