The former police minister in South Africa's apartheid regime is to stand trial for the attempted murder of a top aide to President Thabo Mbeki, prosecutors said.
National Prosecution Authority (NPA) spokesman Panyaza Lesufi said the man who was law and order minister at apartheid's height in the mid-1980s, Adrian Vlok, the former national police commissioner Johan van der Merwe, Christoffel Smith, Gert Otto and Johannes Van Staden, all former high-ranking policemen, will appear before Pretoria High Court on Aug. 17 to face five charges, including attempted murder.
"We have decided to prosecute the five men on various charges including conspiracy and the attempted murder of [Reverend Frank] Chikane" who is now director-general of Mbeki's office, Lesufi said Tuesday.
"We believe we have a very strong case against the men and are ready to prosecute," he said.
Chikane was almost killed 18 years ago when his clothes were laced with poison at a time when he was secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches, one of the organizations at the helm of the fight against white rule.
Last September, Vlok, who is now 70, surprised many including his former masters when he asked for forgiveness from Chikane and washed his feet as an act of penitence during a meeting in the capital Pretoria.
Lesufi said the men were supposed to have been taken to court in 2004 after failing to apply for amnesty at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but the NPA reversed its decision to prosecute them, seeking solutions through discussions with the accused's legal team.
"We believe those [talks] were delaying tactics and we decided to go ahead and file papers in high court. We believe the matter of this magnitude cannot be dealt with in the boardroom." Lesufi said.
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