I'm no mercenary: Du Toit
2009-11-22 18:19
Johannesburg - The “Wonga Coup” was “not the right way to go about things”, Niek du Toit, the point-man of the plot to overthrow Equatorial Guinea dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema says.
“These things should be sorted out in a political manner,” Du Toit told Rapport.
“We had no right to meddle with God's plan for the country and to try and change it.
“I don't know the guy (Severo Moto) who would have come into power. Who is better, the man who took power on the back of a coup or the man who takes his place in another coup?”
While he admits the plot was an illegal, mercenary operation, Du Toit does not regard himself as a mercenary.
“I see myself as a professional soldier who provides services to other people.”
He rubbishes suggestions that the plan was loosely based on Frederick Forsythe's novel The Dogs of War. “I have 20 years military experience and I don't need to read books to do this kind of thing.”
Business
He maintains that his intention was to establish a business in Equatorial Guinea focussing on fishing, marine protection and farming.
“I even flew up a farming consultant to look at the opportunities there. If the coup succeeded or not, I would have had a business.”
He believes that “good came from the bad”.
Equatorial Guinea was a little-known backwater before the coup. Their actions, he believes, shone a spotlight on Obiang's dictatorship and the human rights abuses, corruption and widescale looting of state coffers that were the hallmarks of his regime.
“Things have started to improve but there is still a long way to go before there is a democracy and free-and-fair elections.
“If you want to make Africa a better place, you have to get rid of the dictators.”
South Africa, he warns, will continue to be a recruitment ground for mercenaries.
'No choice'
The Foreign Military Assistance Act drives men like him with military skills underground, he says.
“The politics in South Africa is of such a nature that former soldiers and police can't get work, so what must a guy do? They don't have a choice.”
But he says he is a different man today.
“My life is a week or two old. Thinks that used to be important, no longer mater.
“What did I win by chasing money? What did I gain by trampling over people? What did I get by bailing on my family to pursue other things? Nothing.”