Twenty-one white supremacists, some of whom were involved in a plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela, have been given jail sentences of between five and 35 years
Ringleader and former university lecturer Mike du Toit was convicted in July last year of treason for his leadership role in the plot, after a trial lasting nine years. By his own admission, he was behind nine bombings in Johannesburg’s Soweto township in 2002 in which a woman was killed. He was also found guilty of planning a ‘revolution’ intended to evict black people from most of South Africa to establish a racially “pure” nation, killing anyone who got in the way. Twenty other members of his white supremacist militia Boeremag were also convicted for being involved in the bombings, the assassination plot or for their involvement in the wider plot to overthrow the governing ANC.
Du Toit was the first person to be convicted of treason in South Africa since white minority rule ended in 1994. Nearly 200 people gave evidence for the state – including police informants within Boeremag. The accumulation of their evidence is one reason why the trial took so long, correspondents say.
Two of du Toit’s co-conspirators, Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws – who both escaped from custody and were subsequently rearrested – were given longer sentences for their roles in planting bombs and plotting to kill Mr Mandela, according to local media.
Judge Eben Jordaan took into consideration that almost half of the accused, who were aged from 32 to 74, have spent up to 11 years in jail, which means some of them were able to walk out of court on Tuesday as free men. Correspondents say that there is hope that the sentences have brought an end to one of the longest-running and most expensive trials in South African legal history.
A frail Mr Mandela continues to recover slowly from the grave illness that saw him spend several weeks in hospital earlier this year.
