Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

A Defence Force colonel on Wednesday told the Pretoria High Court how he became an intelligence agent after discussing a violent military coup over milkshakes with three strange men.

Col Koos Holtzhausen of the SANDF in Nelspruit testified in exchange for possible indemnity in the trial of 22 alleged Boeremag members, who have denied guilt on charges ranging from high treason to terrorism, sabotage and murder.

He told the court how he became involved in a coup plot after receiving a call from a stranger who only introduced himself as Koot. His first meeting with three of the accused - Mike and Andre du Toit and Rooikoos du Plessis - took place at a Nelspruit restaurant in September 2001.

He did not know any of the accused and they introduced themselves under false names.

At the meeting, Holtzhausen was told that he had been carefully chosen because they were convinced that he had the interests of the White Afrikaner at heart.

When he asked them if they were talking about a military coup, Du Plessis said yes and the other two nodded in agreement. Du Plessis repeatedly assured him that they had a plan in place.

Holtzhausen said he was suspicious that the three might be from Military Intelligence and that his loyalty was being tested, but he nevertheless played along.

When he asked them how they planned to take on military weaponry, Du Plessis said they would initially do it with their own weapons, but Holtzhausen thought it would be crazy to try to take on tanks and armoured vehicles with private weapons.

Mike du Toit said Holtzhausen would be in charge of the Eastern Transvaal offensive and would have to carry out reconnaissance missions and control the forces.

He assured the military officer that they had persons "in the highest circles", including politicians and defence force people, who supplied them with information and told him he would have a senior post in the new government.

"I was rather shocked and uncertain about what was happening and thought about the whole thing that night. I realised if it was Military Intelligence that was spying on me I would have to do something to cover my backside.

"If it was them and I did not report it, my loyalty would be questioned, so I decided to contact my immediate commanding officer. It later resulted in me becoming a registered agent," he said.

Holtzhausen informed his handler when he was contacted for a second meeting with Du Plessis and Mike du Toit in October 2001. While on their way to a restaurant, Du Plessis had stopped at Postnet, where he worked on a computer and printed out a document.

Later, over milkshakes, Du Plessis took a document out of his briefcase and handed it to Holtzhausen, saying that it was the planning document he had asked for.

He told Holtzhausen they had considerable support, but were still battling in places like Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and Natal, but assured him that their planned actions would definitely take place in about four weeks.

Mike du Toit assured him that the actions at the World Trade Centre in America would be repeated in South Africa and that there would be chaos, which would open the way for their planned actions.

"He said they enjoyed enormous support and that military members were involved. When I pushed him, he gave several names (including those of the accused Dirk Hanekom and Magiel Burger) and said this proved they were serious."

Holtzhausen secretly made a copy of the document at his office before handing the original back to Du Toit later that day. The document named him as overall commander for the "Eastern Transvaal" force.

When Holtzhausen asked them about financing, he was told that the coup plotters would take what they needed. Persons who were for them would receive receipts, but the others not and those who were against them -white or black - would be summarily taken out.

They firmly believed in the predictions of Boer prophet Siener van Rensburg and believed there would be chaos in the country, which they would exploit.

Mike du Toit said they were in trouble anyway and were recruiting members under the guise of giving advice to farmers about security.

Later that month, he again received a call from a worried Mike du Toit who told him his house had been raided, but that he was sure police would not find the planning document on his computer.

The trial was delayed on Wednesday when the defence objected to transcripts of tape recordings being handed in as evidence.

The state argued that Holtzhausen had been present when the recordings were made and that it need not prove admissibility.