The wheels were in motion late on Thursday afternoon for the homecoming of 64 suspected South African mercenaries jailed in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean authorities were processing deportation papers for the men, after which they would be handed over to immigration officials, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.
The men are to be freed after having their prison sentences cut by four months.
There was no clarity on Thursday afternoon on the exact time of the men’s return.
Mamoepa said they might arrive in Johannesburg later on Thursday, but the men’s lawyer said he does not expect them back before Saturday morning.
”There is a long process involved in getting them out,” Alwyn Griebenow said.
Before they can be deported, the men’s passports and private belongings in possession of Zimbabwean authorities will have to be returned to them. There is also a lot of paperwork to be completed, Griebenow added.
”The plane tickets cannot be bought before we know exactly when they are going to be freed.
”Our embassy officials there [in Harare] are in discussions with prison and immigration officials on how and when the release will take place.”
Mamoepa said the men’s lawyers will pay for their plane tickets.
Griebenow was due to leave for Harare on Thursday afternoon and arrive there at 9pm.
”I should have more clarity by tomorrow morning as to what will happen [and] when.”
Sixty-seven of the original 70 men arrested in connection with an alleged coup d’état plot in Equatorial Guinea were in prison in Zimbabwe. Two were acquitted and one died in jail.
Griebenow said 64 of them are expected to be released this week. Two pilots might not be freed with the others.
The Zimbabwean High Court on Wednesday reduced the men’s sentences by four months. They also qualified for a one-third remission of sentence for good behaviour under Zimbabwean laws.
As a result, 64 of the men — who were sentenced to 12 months in jail each — qualified for an immediate release. Two pilots, who each got 16-month sentences, will be due for release only on May 10, Griebenow said.
”But we will be negotiating with the Zimbabwean authorities, asking them to release the two with the others as an act of goodwill.”
The 67th prisoner, apparent group leader Simon Mann, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, later reduced to four years, and will have to remain behind.
The group was arrested at Harare International airport in March last year when they apparently landed to refuel and pick up military equipment. They were all travelling on South African passports.
Zimbabwean authorities claimed they were on their way to join 15 other suspected mercenaries — including eight South Africans — arrested in Equatorial Guinea at about the same time.
They were accused of planning to overthrow Equatorial Guinea’s leader, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The men denied the charges, claiming they were on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard mines. They were convicted of breaching Zimbabwe’s aviation, immigration, firearms and security laws.
British businessman Mark Thatcher, accused of partly financing the alleged coup plot, was fined R3-million in January after pleading guilty to contravening South African anti-mercenary laws.
Mamoepa said on Thursday there had been no political or diplomatic efforts to get the men home earlier.
”This was a purely [Zimbabwean] judicial decision,” he said.
Griebenow said the judge, who partly upheld his clients’ appeal last week against their sentences, had given no reasons for his decision. — Sapa