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| - Her supporters see her as a strong-willed woman who worked her way up through male-dominated Afrikaner society to become the most powerful woman in Southern Africa; her opponents and critics view her as a cold-blooded tyrant who isn’t afraid to use violence against her opponents to achieve her goals. She is personified by one brutal act caught on live television and broadcast around the world, but has since clawed her way back out of political oblivion to once again become a force to reckon with in Transvaal society. A woman who keeps a tight guard on her past, Annetjie Katrina van Matteus was born sometime in the mid-1960s on a farm in rural Transvaal - in those days back when South Africa was under the rule of apartheid. She refuses to divulge her age, but based on what scant facts there are about her early life it is believed that she is between 38 and 44 years of age. Her father Anders Von Matthias, a landless noble, emigrated from Deutschland to take up cattle farming. Soon after his arrival in Pretoria, he met a young woman named Sofië. Within a year they married and a daughter was born on their farm near Bloemfontein, whom they named Annetjie (Annette). When Annetjie was about 8 years old, her parents sent her overseas to study at an all-girls boarding school in Deutschland. Fluent in four languages, it was here that the young Annetjie received instruction in German as well as English to go along with her native Afrikaans and her secondary knowledge of Xhosa which she had learnt from her father’s African farmhands. She has also acquired some knowledge of Oshiwambo since taking up residence in Namibia and has a smattering of simple Tahoe Gaelic. At the boarding school she was viewed as an outsider, but the unrefined country girl strove ambitiously to transform herself and succeed against all odds and soon earned the respect of her fellow students as well as her instructors. After going through university and graduating with a degree is economic studies and political science, she landed work in various financial administrative jobs in Deutschland and elsewhere on the European continent. When her homeland proclaimed its independence on December 26, 2006, Annetjie van Matteus quickly returned to Transvaal in the hopes of securing a possible government job somewhere within the Ministry of Finance. To her own surprise, she was appointed Minister of Labour in Transvaal’s first cabinet. She soon gained a reputation in Transvaal for her narrow-minded ruthless approach when twice she relied on military troops to crush labour unrest and dissent. When the Second Republic was proclaimed in March 2007, she was re-assigned by Prime Minister Riaan van der Byl to become his new foreign minister and thus first gained prominence outside Transvaal. As foreign minister, she caught many nations off-guard with her stylish dress and manner as well as her outspoken desire to see Transvaal acquire the atom bomb as a means to defend national interests in the region. In mid-May 2007, while she was involved in negotiations with the DDR government during the Berlin crises, the Transvaal military was forced to rescue her during the Schönefeld Raid after becoming trapped in hostile DDR territory. During the raid she assisted a family of four to flee the oppressive DDR communist regime. One week later on May 29, 2007 she was appointed Eersteminister (Prime Minister) of Transvaal after Riaan van der Byl was forced out of power due to rioting in Pretoria and Johannesburg after he lead Transvaal to defeat in the Natal War of Independence. Her appointment by Staatspresident Botha was seen to confirm his then-habit of offsetting the policies and mind frame of the prime minister with those of the Transvaal Krygsmagte Commander-in-Chief, as then Brigadier-General Paul Cruywagen was well-known to be one of the more moderate figures within the National Party government and has repeatedly opposed Transvaler expansionism in South Africa. Almost immediately, Prime Minister van Matteus’ government was plagued with external threats as one week later FAN terrorists from Genesee launched a completely unprovoked and nefarious attack against the Afrikaner homeland from their secret bases located in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. More FAN terrorists, this time from Unholy Nation, crossed over the frontier and the Transvaal armed forces were ordered to retreat and leave the veldland scorched in their wake. After making a retreat of 154 miles, Transvaal troops had dug in preparation for a further round of attacks when a ceasefire was announced by the aggressor nations. Despite the overwhelming thrown at the Transvaal military, van Matteus’ steely resolve to defend the nation at all costs resulted in the Krygsmagte securing at least two victories versus the invaders from Unholy Nation. However despite the ceasefire, her government was thrown into anarchy and rioting once again broke out in Pretoria and Johannesburg. It was at this time that the notorious event which would make her known throughout the world took place... Soon after the ceasefire took effect at half past noon, Prime Minister Annetjie van Matteus appeared on live state television along with the rest of her cabinet and proclaimed Order No.1 as a means to combat internal lawlessness and discord. Van Matteus decreed that all members of the National Party of Transvaal as well as troops of the Transvaal Krygsmagte were given full powers of summary justice. Any citizen or resident within the borders of Transvaal - including territory under the authorities of the African National Reserves and Rhodesian protectorate - were declared liable to summary arrest and execution if deemed to be a security threat to the state. While making her speech on live television, to prove her point, the camera then panned out as Ms. Van Matteus then calmly walked up to some hapless prisoners handcuffed off to the side, pulled out her Luger P08 pistol and proceeded to execute them. She then casually walked over to her foreign minister and shot Herr Hans Breytenbach in head with one shot as well, his alleged punishment for failing to keep her informed of the FAN threat against our nation. Soon after the proclamation of Order No.1, security forces under van Matteus’ direct orders arrested and executed 261 prisoners which she had deemed 'enemies of the state' - including the entire SWF-NAAC POW soccer team which was still under detention in a Pretoria prison after repatriation to East Germany had failed a some weeks prior. Rioting continued as the Van Matteus regime lost control over the state broadcasting building in downtown Pretoria. While many rioters were disenfranchised Africans (such as those who seized the TBC facilities and showed their displeasure with the Nationalist régime by posting Winnie Mandela pictures on government websites) a new more sinister element was noticed by security forces when some white hooligans were arrested with neo-nazi Boer Staat paraphernalia on their persons. With the deteriorating situation in neighbouring Boer Staat and that nation believed to be on the brink of collapse, there was widespread concern that Transvaal - or at least those areas outside of direct government control - would become a refuge for Boer Staat exiles and supporters of the banned Transvaal Volkstaat racist organization. To fortify her rule, Prime Minister Annetjie van Matteus appointed herself to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and to deflect international attention on her, she in a surprise move of mutual reconciliation established diplomatic relations and exchanged ambassadors with their former Second Maroon War enemy Procinctia, which is lead by Generalissimo. During the following week, further proof of the growing rift between the Transvaal military high command and Prime Minister van Matteus appeared when Field Marshal Paul Cruywagen issued a public statement that two notable and notorious members of the Boer Staat government, Dr. Hasso von Hugel (Foreign Minister) and Dr. Wouter Hesse (Truth Minister), had been granted refugee status in Transvaal during the constant stream of people fleeing the Boer Staat for the safety of Transvaal as that nation suffered under the crushing weight of war. Annetjie van Matteus’ rule in Transvaal finally came crashing down on July 6, 2007 when she was deposed in a military coup lead by Field Marshal Paul Cruywagen - after the Transvaal Republic returned to anarchy and rioting after communist-backed ANC guerillas launched a series of counter-attacks against the Afrikaner homeland. Soon after the coup was announced on state radio, Marshal Cruywagen was sworn into office by Staatspresident Botha as Transvaal’s third prime Minister. The swiftness of the coup seemed to indicate that Staatspresident Botha had some forewarning, if not giving outright endorsement, of van Matteus’ ouster. Ms. Van Matteus was then detained at Johannesburg Barracks and prosecuted for murder and abuse of power charges in relation to her infamous Order No.1 and the reign of terror which resulted. On July 15, 2007 Transvaal’s high court in Pretoria found Annetjie van Matteus guilty of 12 counts of murder for her part in authorizing the executions of [Foreign Minister] Hans Breytenbach and the SWF-NAAC POW soccer squad. Another 249 counts of murder were suspended when she was acquitted on charges of abuse of power due to a split jury. The high court then sentenced Van Matteus to life in prison after Prime Minister - Field Marshal Paul Cruywagen reiterated and reinforced that Transvaal has no death penalty due to Presidential Decree #4 of January 4, 2007. Staatspresident Botha commented afterwards to the press that he had weighed the presidential option to execute van Matteus - but in the end chose not to start a precedent, stating that foreign opinion both for and against this form of punishment did have a factor in his decision. Van Matteus was then imprisoned at Johannesburg Central Prison and remained there behind bars until Transvaal was attacked by GOONS terrorists on September 11, 2007. In the wake of the attacks, the Cruywagen government was thrown into anarchy. Field Marshal Cruywagen then declared martial law as civil war broke out between loyalist Republican nationalists and the racist Volkstaat militias who proclaimed their support for the GOONS invasion as a means to propel Doctor Hasso Von Hugel into power. During the rioting which followed, Volkstaat militia rebels freed Annetjie van Matteus from prison - who then went into hiding along with Hasso Von Hugel. Two weeks later, the Volkstater movement was finally crushed by nationalist Republican forces loyal to Prime Minister Paul Cruywagen. Facing probable execution for treason at the hands of the Republican authorities, Annetjie van Matteus and Dr. Hasso Von Hugel then parted their final ways at Bloemfontein. Von Hugel made his way alone on foot in an attempt to evade capture and defect near the frontier at Edenburg. Van Matteus went off in the opposite direction and tried to make her way back towards Johannesburg in a stolen landrover. She was identified and arrested at a roadblock outside Winburg - and after threats of "intense interrogation", Van Matteus readily confessed and betrayed the whereabouts of Von Hugel to her interrogators. Trapped, Von Hugel committed suicide to evade capture and trial. Once the war ended, she was implicated along with Uys Rooyan de Ruijters and the late Von Hasso with trying to exploit the recent GOONS attacks against Transvaal to planned and committed traitorous mayhem and sabotage to weaken the military position of the Transvaal Krygsmagte and sow discord throughout the nation. On October 24, 2007 the Transvaal Supreme Court has heard the treason case of Annetjie van Matteus. In a shock decision, she was cleared of treason charges after she stated in her defense that she has no involvement in her escape organized by Von Hugel and de Ruijters - and when she departed Von Hugel she turned herself in and gave information for Von Hugel’s capture. It was expected the state would have executed her, but the obviously broken (and likely tortured) van Matteus pleaded that she would never betray her nation to its enemies but was caught up nevertheless in Von Hugel’s treason acts due to no decision of her own. Although returned to prison to serve out her previous murder charge, many experts believed that she would be released at some point to house arrest in Rhodesia or Walvis Bay. She still had her supporters that favoured her strong approach and the government was loathe to make her into some rallying point or martyr. Her dire-hard supporters pointed to the recent anti-communist campaign in Rhodesia as justification for her own actions which ultimately saw her arrested for ordering the execution of LSF prisoners and demanded her release and pardon. Annetjie van Matteus was released from prison on November 15, 2007 as part of a blanket ‘reconciliation’ amnesty issued by Prime Minister Hertzog in preparation for the proclamation of the Federal Republic of Transvaal later that month. She was given a partial pardon and exiled to the South West African Protectorate (Namibia) with the condition not to enter South African territory for three months. Her life now in ruins, she was able to find enough money to buy a small but comfortable cottage at Walvis Bay, within sight of the military base there so local authorities could monitor her activities. It was during this time that she was reunited with her 5 year-old daughter Joanne. She kept a low profile and rarely wandered from her cottage - only to attend Catholic mass once week with her daughter. Annetjie van Matteus’ life would suddenly turn around on December 22, 2007 when she was rehabilitated by the government with her appointment as commander of the Transvaal Oorsese Korps, which was being dispatched to Tahoe to assist with anti-communist operations in that country. The move was initially seen as a way to simply get her out of the country, but she dived headfirst into her new appointment and soon gained repute for her leading the Overseas Corps into action in Tahoe and later Dun Carrig. While still ruthless in the face of battle, the new Colonel van Matteus took stock of herself and toned down her more extreme aspects. She began to distance herself from her dark past and at the same time built up a devout loyalty from amongst her African askari troops and foreign volunteers of the Oorsese Korps. On her return from Dun Carrig she was appointed Governor of South West Africa (Namibia) and most recently helped negotiate and facilitate the independence of Cherokee Namibia from Transvaal. She has also gain further favour amongst her Namibian subjects by referring to the Protectorate by the more pro-native name "Northern Namibia" instead of "South West Africa". With her candidacy in the upcoming National Elections, Annetjie van Matteus has shown the world that like the legendary phoenix, she too can rise again from the ashes of destruction. The question on most people’s minds now is whether she will destroy herself once again?
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