Three men, among them two brothers, appeared briefly in the
Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday in connection with an alleged rightwing
plot to topple the government.
Michael Teshart du Toit, 43, of Krugersdorp; Andre Tibert du Toit, 32, of Warmbaths; and Jacobus Christoffel du Plessis, 43, of Brits appeared on charges in terms of the
Internal Security Act, but were not asked to plead.
The greying Michael du Toit, a former Vista
University lecturer, wore jeans and
a blue golf shirt. His bearded brother Andre, a former policeman who took up a
computer career, was clothed in a purple shirt and tie. The much thinner Du Plessis, with a reddish blond
beard and moustache, wore a light blue checked shirt.
According to the Sunday paper Rapport, the Brits farmer's
nickname is Rooikoos.
Relatives and friends, including a baby, filled a bench in
the courtroom's public gallery.
Magistrate Mario Jungbluth
postponed the case until Friday.
Defence counsel Jan Lubbe indicated that he would apply for bail then. State
prosecutor Louis Wiese told the court that the three men were being held
separately at different police stations -- Michael du
Toit at Sunnyside, Andre du
Toit at Pretoria North and Du
Plessis at Pretoria Moot.
Their arrests resulted from a year-long police investigation
dubbed Operation Zealot.
Last month, four men with apparent rightwing connections
were arrested in the Free State
four allegedly planning to blow up the wall of the Vaal dam.
Three of the four appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's
Court last week on treason charges. The fourth man was released and will
reportedly act as State witness.
Police spokesman Captain Ronnie Naidoo
on Monday said no link had been found between the two groups of men.
He could not confirm whether any further arrests were
imminent.
Various people had been investigated, but those arrested
were the only ones against whom sufficient evidence was found to prosecute, Naidoo said.
According to the Sunday Times a network of rightwing groups
had planned to create mayhem by blowing up major dams and sabotaging government
infrastructure. This was apparently meant to spark civil war and re-establish
white rule in the country.
The paper reported that it had a document outlining an
elaborate plan to reclaim "lost territorial self-determination".
The plan reportedly included destroying the state's computer
network and planting computer viruses to cripple the government's technological
capacity.
It also involved staging jailbreaks for former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock
and Pretoria Boer Commando leader Willem Ratte, as
well as Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus, who is serving life terms for the murder of SA
Communist Party leader Chris Hani.
Derby-Lewis' wife Gaye on Sunday said neither he nor Walus had any knowledge of such a plot.
De Kock's lawyer, Schalk Hugo, said in a statement his client had learnt with
dismay about the allegations that there were plans to topple the government and
to free him from prison.
"Mr de Kock
wants to put it on record unequivocally that he has never been a member of any
left and/or rightwing political party and that he acted in his capacity as
policeman all along.
"Mr de Kock
wants to distance himself categorically from the activities of the far-right
people."
Hugo said the former police colonel was totally unaware of
the alleged activities, and had no intention to ever get involved with such
actions. "He intends to, as he has done all along, use legitimate and
legal channels to try and
address his continued
incarceration."
April 9, 2002
Return to: Africa News: Archives
The "Quiet Man's" self-defense