The Inkatha Freedom Party on Wednesday rebuffed a call by KwaZulu-Natal’s minister for safety and security, Bheki Cele, to extradite Philip Powell from Britain to stand trial in connection with arms smuggling before the 1994 elections.
Cele made the call after the discovery of two caches of weapons in a storeroom of the Ulundi Legislative Assembly two weeks ago.
IFP safety and security spokesperson VB Ndlovu said before any such extradition, the African National Congress, specifically Cele; current South African National Defence Force chief Simphiwe Nyanda; and former minister Mac Maharaj have to disclose the whereabouts of the arms they were going to use in ”Operation Vula” if negotiations at Kempton Park, around the same time, had failed.
”Sifiso Nkabinde was killed just before he could disclose the consignment of weapons and the IFP is convinced that the above-mentioned members of Operation Vula know where the arms are. Only after the ANC consignment was found, can they think of extraditing Mr Powell,” Ndlovu said.
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, was expected to report back to KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso 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 ANC has said it had always been concerned about weapons that had been unaccounted for since Powell led Scorpions investigators to a cache of three truck-loads at Nquthu in 2000. — Sapa