One of the men who allegedly plotted to topple the government of Equatorial Guinea feels he has done nothing wrong, despite pleading guilty, the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Tuesday.
Harry Carlse, who turned state witness, was testifying against eight alleged co-conspirators accused of contravening the Regulations on Foreign Military Assistance Act.
Carlse, who was to be the ground commander of the mercenaries in Equatorial Guinea, was fined R75 000 and given a suspended sentence in 2004 after admitting his guilt under a plea agreement.
The nine men were part of a group arrested in March 2004 on arrival at Harare International Airport, allegedly to refuel and pick up military equipment en route to stage the coup in Equatorial Guinea.
They returned to South Africa in 2005 after spending more than a year in a Zimbabwean prison for violating its immigration, aviation, firearms and security laws.
Carlse told the court on Tuesday that most of the men had been informed that they were on their way to guard a mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
They were only to be informed of the coup when the plane took off from Harare.
”It was the cover story and the cover story gets told to the masses till it’s absolutely necessary to inform them otherwise.”
As far as he knew, only two of the men on trial had known of the plot — Louis du Preez and Simon Witherspoon — Carlse testified.
He had recruited them days before the attempted coup, assuring them it was legal because the South African National Intelligence Agency, President Thabo Mbeki and the then National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, all knew and approved.
Carlse himself believed the government had given the operation its approval.
He had had no choice but to plead guilty, even though he believed everything was legal, he responded to questions by Alwyn Griebenow, the lawyer representing Du Preez and Witherspoon.
”When we came out of the prison in Zimbabwe we did not have the finances to fight the state or make a big hoo-ha about it …,” he testified.
Du Preez and Witherspoon have pleaded not guilty to contravening the Act.
Not guilty pleas have also been entered by their co-accused Raymond Stanley Archer, Victor Dracula, Errol Harris, Mazanga Kashama, Neves Tomas Matias and Hendrick Jacobus Hamman. — Sapa