Bloemfontein - The plan was to kill ANC president Jacob Zuma and his former deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, on December 16 with mortar bombs while they dined with delegates and guests at the ANC’s 53rd national conference.
If that failed, the alternative plan was that men armed with assault rifles, such as AK-47s or R4s, would invade the dining venue and assassinate them and other high-ranking politicians.
These details of a plan to kill Zuma and Motlanthe were unveiled in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
The plan is contained in a charge sheet that contains the state’s case against the four rightwingers from Gauteng charged for being the alleged architects of the plot.
The plan was supposed to be two-staged. Initially, according to documents and a confession statement, the rightwingers had intended to attack Zuma, Motlanthe, cabinet members and senior ANC leaders with mortar bombs while they dined.
If the first plan failed, these alleged plotters, according to the prosecution, then hatched a plan to invade the dining hall and kill Zuma, Motlanthe and cabinet members execution-style.
These alleged rightwingers were, the state insists, in possession of a sketch plan to execute the attack, including photographs of the conference venue, dining hall, and entrance and exit points of the University of the Free State.
These details were revealed during the first appearance of Mark Trollip, 48, of Joburg, John Martin Keevy, 47, of Port Elizabeth, Hein Boonzaaier, 51, of Centurion, and Johan Hendrik Prinsloo, 49, of Springs. Prinsloo also owns a farm in Mookgophong, Limpopo.
The four were charged with one count of high treason and one count of conspiracy to engage in a terrorist activity. State prosecutor Shaun Abrahams gave a detailed account of the role each of the accused were supposed to play in their mission.
The court heard that the plot was hatched on January 1 this year and was to be executed on Sunday – the day they got arrested. The plot was codenamed “Battle of Mangaung”.
Abrahams told the court that the rightwingers held meetings in various parts of the country where overthrowing the ANC-run government was high on their agenda since January 1. The prosecution told the court that another meeting was held in Centurion on January 24.
The meeting was held in Boonzaaier’s home. Boonzaaier chaired the meeting, where a plan to form a new political party, a “Boere Party”, was discussed.
“The purpose of the meeting was to enhance the principle of self-rule. A number of people attended the meeting and they used the formation of a political party as a front to commit acts of terrorism,” said Abrahams.
The court also heard that on February 1, a communication was issued to the rightwingers to prepare themselves for category 7 murders.
According to Abrahams, Prinsloo told his supporters in the communiqué that “they should not be concerned about weapons as he had plenty of them”.
The State also alleges that on March 3, Prinsloo organised another meeting at his home where plans to overthrow the ANC government were again discussed. Two meetings were later held in July.
One of the meetings was held in early July, and its primary focus was the Mangaung conference.
It was, according to the State, at that meeting that a decision was taken to target Zuma and Motlanthe. They consolidated their plans at another meeting on July 28.
Abrahams told the court that the police had acted on their intelligence report, then obtained a warrant of arrest from a Bloemfontein magistrate on December 15.
All four men were arrested the next day, and the police confiscated various items from them, including firearms, laptops, and documents linked to the trial.
One of them had allegedly flown to the US to seek financial assistance for the terror plot. More arrests were expected. - The Star