Only eight of the group of 61 of suspected mercenaries will be prosecuted in South Africa after they appeared in the Pretoria Regional Court on Friday.
Their case was postponed to July 8 for further investigation.
The men, who are out on warning, are facing charges of contravening the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act.
They are part of a group of 61 men that returned to South Africa last month after spending more than a year in a Zimbabwean prison.
The men were convicted of violating Zimbabwe’s immigration, aviation, firearms and security laws.
The charges were related to an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.
The lawyer for the men, Alwyn Griebenow, told reporters at the court the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will not bring charges against the rest of the group because it does not have enough evidence against them.
”They [the NPA] have finally realised that these guys did not know what was going on, as they have always said,” he said.
The men, who were arrested at Harare International airport, claimed they were on their way to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Zimbabwean authorities said they were on their way to join 15 other alleged mercenaries — including eight South Africans — arrested in Equatorial Guinea at about the same time.
The group in Equatorial Guinea was convicted and given long prison sentences, in what has been called a flawed trial, for attempting to overthrow the country’s long-time dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Asked what evidence the NPA has against the eight men, some of them believed to be the organisers of the alleged plot, Griebenow said he does not know.
”I can only get the police docket once the investigation has been completed,” he said.
Griebenow said he is in ongoing talks with the NPA and believes that some of the eight men will be let off.
”I think they will withdraw charges against some of the eight. There is still time to do some convincing.”
He said if the men are convicted, the NPA will ask for them to serve another year behind bars.
However, he said he believes the men will get a suspended sentence and pay a fine, like two other men who returned to South Africa did after being arrested for the alleged plot.
They had to pay a R75 000 fine and received a four-year sentence suspended for five years.
Sir Mark Thatcher, the son of former United Kingdom prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was believed to have financed the alleged plot, paid a fine and left the country.
The NPA announced on Thursday that the men will no longer be allowed to enter into a plea bargain and get a suspended sentence as previously arranged.
Griebenow said the men and the National Directorate of Public Prosecution made the plea-bargain agreement eight months ago.
He said the new National Director of Public Prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli, had apparently said he wanted the men to spend time behind bars.
Asked the reason for this, Griebenow said: ”He is a new guy, he needs to make a stand; what else?”
Asked how the men are coping since returning home, Griebenow said many of them are struggling financially.
”A lot of them have lost their homes. They are financially bankrupt and don’t have any income at this stage.
”Until this case is finalised, they won’t be able to get on with their lives as normal,” he said.
The accused are Raymond Archer, Victor Dracula, Louis du Preez, Errol Harris, Mzanga Kashama, Neves Matias, Maitre Ruakuluka and Simon Witherspoon.
Dracula is from Angola and Kashama is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All the men have South African citizenship.
It has not yet been decided if the two pilots for the aircraft will be prosecuted, as they are still in Zimbabwe completing the rest of their prison term. They are expected back in South Africa later this year.
The prosecutor for the NPA is Dr Torie Pretorius. — Sapa