About 150 family members and friends of alleged mercenaries held in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea handed over a memorandum addressed to President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings on Tuesday, calling for government intervention.
”I believe my brother is innocent and does not belong there. He is a South African citizen and needs his government’s help,” said Whanita Horn, who with her family drove from Nelspruit, Mpumalanga.
Her brother, Lourens (31), a former policeman and special task force member based in Pretoria, had recently returned from a stint as a bodyguard in Iraq when he volunteered to serve as a security guard in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
His brother, Michael, said he had spent a week with them before leaving.
”I did not ask him much but knew that he was on his way to Congo as a security guard of sorts. He has had a hard life but knew what was right and wrong.
”I know he would not participate in any coup plot to overthrow any government,” he said.
Horn is one of 70 alleged mercenaries arrested at Harare International airport two months ago when their Boeing 727 stopped to refuel and pick up military equipment. The Zimbabwean authorities claim they were on their way to join 15 suspected mercenaries arrested in Equatorial Guinea and charged with plotting to overthrow the government of the oil-rich Central African nation.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad on Monday reiterated that the government will not interfere in the judicial process despite announcements by lawyers representing the alleged mercenaries that a free and fair trial would be impossible.
But Pahad added that if they were found guilty and sentenced to death, the South African government would enter into discussions with the country concerned.
Advocate Wilna Lubbe, representing the Zimbabwe prisoners, felt this would be too late.
”This is not enough. They will be dead by evening once sentence has been passed,” she said.
Lubbe said they had adopted the unorthodox approach of protesting at the Union Buildings to draw the government’s attention to the seriousness of the matter.
”We need to get the prisoners extradited to South Africa to stand a fair trial and we need the government’s help,” she said.
But Bernard van der Hoven, representing the 15 South Africans detained in Equatorial Guinea, was more circumspect.
He had just been awarded his visas to enter Equatorial Guinea.
”I have been battling for two months to get to see my clients in prison but through a bit of government intervention I was finally awarded the visas I needed,” he said, adding he expected to leave within the week.
Van der Hoven said he did not know what to expect but ”will do my utmost to get them [the prisoners] back here”.
Lubbe said that on the Zimbabwe front, the accused are appearing in court on Wednesday and their defence will be moving for a discharge.
”We are convinced there is not enough evidence to convict them,” she said.
Meanwhile, the waiting for the families becomes unbearable.
”My father cries every day. We all think about him all the time,” Horn said.
Reubin Mosefuwa said he has friends among those detained in Equatorial Guinea.
”I was meant to be with them. I was going to be a security guard in the DRC too,” he said, explaining that he missed the first flight when he went back home to Zambia to say goodbye to his wife.
”I heard about their arrest on Zambian news,” he said.
A consular delegation from the South African High Commission in Harare was expected to visit the prisoners on Tuesday. — Sapa