KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial government may seek to have Inkatha Freedom Party member Philip Powell extradited from Britain, SABC radio news reports.
A call for Powell’s extradition by Safety and Security MEC Bheki Cele followed the discovery of two caches of weapons in the storeroom of the Ulundi legislature two weeks ago.
A task team consisting of former Truth and Reconciliation Commission special investigations head Wilson Magadla, and Professor Paulus Zulu from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, appointed to investigate the origins of the weapons, is expected to report back to premier S’bu Ndebele on Wednesday.
Powell had admitted to receiving a consignment of weapons from Vlakplaas police commander Eugene De Kock just before the 1994 general election.
Since the find, the African National Congress has said it had always been concerned about weapons that had been unaccounted for since Powell led Scorpions investigators to a weapons cache of three truck-loads at Nquthu in 2000.
The IFP has been concerned that the recent discovery of the arms was part of a dirty tricks campaign and called on the public not to ”jump to hasty conclusions”. – Sapa