Patrick Goodenough in East London
Former Transkei military strongman Bantu Holomisa took=20 a leaf out of the CIA’s book when he sent a military=20 signal to abduct a wanted man from Johannesburg in 1991=20 “like the Americans did with Noriega”.
Holomisa effectively confirmed this week that=20 Vulindlela Mbotoli, the prisoner pardoned and released=20 on Monday from a 20-year sentence for treason, had been=20 kidnapped from South African territory and returned=20 against his will to Transkei to face trial.=20
Mbotoli was named by Holomisa as mastermind of a failed=20 attempt to overthrow the military council in November=20 1990. Attempts to have him extradited from exile in=20 South Africa failed.
In April 1991, Mbotoli was drugged, gagged and bound=20 while at the Bryanston home of Austrian national Rainer=20 Moringer, who allegedly collaborated in the abduction=20 in return for favours in Transkei
Mbotoli said this week he regained consciousness hours=20 later to find himself in a convoy of three vehicles=20 crammed with homeland soldiers being driven to=20 Transkei. He was held in solitary confinement at a Port=20 St Johns military base for six months, while the=20 Transkei authorities denied knowledge of his=20
At the same time, the homeland passed a law purporting=20 to legalise legal action against a suspect irrespective=20 of the place and manner of arrest.
In late 1991, he was finally charged along with 17 co- accuseds, and, after a marathon treason trial, was sent=20 to jail.
“We learnt this from the United States,” Holomisa said,=20 when asked to comment, he acted “just like the=20 Americans did with Noriega. This wasn’t some Third=20 World thing.”
Mbotoli said he consulted more that 20 doctors and=20 dermatologists while in prison for an unusual skin=20 disorder he believes was triggered by a powerful drug=20 administered by his captors. The condition had stymied=20 doctors, prompting him to write to the erstwhile=20 homeland authorities to ask them to disclose the drug=20 used, thus enabling him to find a cure. He has had no=20
The man Mbotoli named as head of Holomisa’s abduction=20 squad was, at the time, a Transkei security colonel. He=20 is now based at the South African Police Services=20 headquarters in Pretoria.
Gauteng police have confirmed they are still=20 investigating the abduction.=20