A defence lawyer for two of the eight men allegedly involved in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea hinted on Thursday that the South African government might have given its permission for the attempt.
Defence lawyer Alwyn Griebenow was cross-examining state witness Johannes Smit in the Pretoria Regional Court.
Earlier in the week, Smit said it was an enigma why the men went ahead with the plan when everyone knew about it. On Thursday, Griebenow asked Smit whether the attempted coup would not have been a ”suicide mission” had the government not given permission or its blessing for the mission.
Smit agreed, saying Nick du Toit, one of the alleged leaders of the group, was told to call it off. He said he drew up two reports before the coup attempt, warning of its possibility.
He told the court on Thursday that it was ”highly unlikely” that the South African government did not know about a possibility of a coup in Equatorial Guinea.
Another state witness, Nigel Morgan, who is also a private security consultant with a background in the British military, testified that he passed on reports to a source in the ”foreign intelligence service of the South African government” about the alleged coup.
He had regular meetings with ex-SAS officer Simon Mann and London businessman Greg Wales, who were allegedly involved in the coup.
”Leading members of that conspiracy regarded me as somebody on their side of the track. That was a mistake leading to disastrous consequences,” he told the court.
Morgan said Wales handed him a background report shortly before the men were captured, entitled Assisted Regime Change in Equatorial Guinea.
The eight men before court — Raymond Stanley Archer, Victor Dracula, Louis du Preez, Errol Harris, Mazanga Kashama, Neves Tomas Matias, Simon Morris Witherspoon and Hendrik Jacobus Hamman — have pleaded not guilty to a charge of contravening the Foreign Military Assistance Act.
They were among a group of 70 arrested in March 2004 when they landed at Harare International Airport, allegedly to refuel and pick up military equipment. Zimbabwean authorities said they were on their way to join other suspected mercenaries arrested in Equatorial Guinea at about the same time.
A total of 61 of the group returned to South Africa in 2005 after spending more than a year in a Zimbabwean prison for violating immigration, aviation, firearms and security laws.
The charges in the Pretoria court relate to an alleged plot to topple Equatorial Guinea’s long-time dictator, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The trial continues on Friday. — Sapa