SA men face 'light charges'
2004-03-11 21:50
Johannesburg - So far only charges relating to immigration, firearms and aviation offences have been considered against 67 people, who have been warned they face the death penalty if found to be mercenaries in a coup plot against the government of Equatorial Guinea.
Most were on board an aircraft that Zimbabwe authorities impounded at Harare airport on Sunday. They are South African, Angolan, Namibian, and DRC citizens.
Zimbabwe's acting attorney-general Bharat Patel, speaking on state radio, did not refer to any laws dealing with mercenaries, treason or national security.
He said final details of the charges "have yet to be worked out with the relevant law enforcement agencies".
He named contraventions under the Aviation Act, the Firearms Act and also in relation to immigration laws.
These are regarded as relatively minor offences carrying penalties of fines or short terms in prison.
Boeing impounded after 'false declaration'
Patel made no reference to the battery of national security legislation dealing with attempted insurrection, terrorism, treason, espionage or mercenaries.
The Boeing 727-100 in which the group were travelling was impounded on Sunday after the pilot allegedly made a "false declaration" that it was carrying no cargo and only seven passengers.
Legal experts said Patel's reference to the Firearms Act was the first indication that any of the group may have had any weapons.
Until now, officials have been saying no weaponry was found on the aircraft.
What they described as "military equipment" on board appeared to refer to brightly coloured rucksacks, boots and sleeping bags.
In Malabo, the island capital of the Equatorial Guinea, South African Nick du Toit, allegedly a member of Executive Outcomes that specialised in mercenary activity, reportedly confessed he was part of an advance party that planned to abduct President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and force him into exile.
SABC radio news reports that Equatorial Guinea's deputy foreign minister, José Esomo Micha flew to Pretoria to thank South Africa personally for alerting his country to an impending plot to overthrow the government.
Meanwhile, the SA Police Service is also probing the facts surrounding the Boeing's arrival in South Africa on Saturday and its reportedly illegal departure the next day for Harare, Bujumbura in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said senior superintendent Selby Bokaba.
'Not exactly innocent travellers'
Logo Logistics Limited, the British-based employer of the men arrested in Harare, was arranging legal representation for them on Thursday, said senior executive Charles Burrow from London.
While the South Africans arrested in both Harare and Malabo would receive customary consular service, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said her department was in no rush to assist them.
"They are not exactly innocent travellers finding themselves in a difficult situation," she said.
- SAPA