Acquitted Kabila fears for his life

"Rebel leader" plagued by threatening phone calls and "shadows" after being cleared on DRC coup charges

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Johannesburg - Etienne Kabila, who was acquitted early this year with 20 Congolese men alleged to have tried to topple the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president in a coup, says he has been fearing for his life since receiving intimidating phone calls and being followed by men on foot and in a variety of cars.

“My life has been in danger since I was wrongfully labelled a terrorist and mastermind of a rebel group that wanted to overthrow the DRC regime of Joseph Kabila,” said Kabila, who has been in the country with his family for more than 13 years.

“Their statements to the media have placed me in a vulnerable position as my safety is now extremely compromised, especially because when I came to South Africa, I was fleeing from my country of origin, the DRC, as there was an immediate threat to my life.

“Now I strongly feel that they have arranged for people to kill me in South Africa.”

Kabila said President Jacob Zuma’s office had failed to respond to his pleas, so he had now approached the public protector .

He and 19 fellow Congolese were arrested in 2013 after an operation by undercover police agents who, posing as an anti-rhino poaching interest group, took them to a Limpopo farm for training.

The 20 men were subsequently charged under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1998 with engaging in “mercenary activity” and rendering “foreign military assistance” as well as conspiring to “commit murder” under the Riotous Assemblies Act.

They were acquitted by Judge Billy Mothle, sitting in the Northern Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, in February.

They said they had endured two years of torture and brutal treatment in jail.

The judge released them after the State failed to prove their intention to carry out the alleged crimes or to provide a reasonable version of events to dispute the evidence of the accused.

The men testified that the whole operation had been a ruse as they were told they were being taken to the Limpopo farm to be trained to man an anti-rhino poaching unit.

Judge Mothle questioned the undercover cops’ role in luring the men into a trap, saying they had created an opportunity for crime: “They used deceit and trickery to entice them to develop a plan that clearly didn’t exist.”

His judgment was a damning indictment of the Hawks.

It is now cited extensively by the 20 Congolese men in their application to sue the State for wrongful arrest.

Kabila – who claims to be the true biological son of the DRC president Laurent Kabila, who was assassinated in Kinshasa in 2001, and who has said that Joseph Kabila has Rwandan parents and is just an adopted son of the late president – has now called on the public protector’s intervention.

He blames President Jacob Zuma’s closeness to Joseph Kabila for the case.

“Zuma’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, has mining companies in Katanga, and they are making a lot of money,” he said.

“I was supposed to be killed. That is why I left Congo Kinshasa (in the DRC) for Congo Brazzaville and then came to South Africa. And now they are following me.”

Kabila has refugee status and wants protection.

“Since my release, I have not been safe as I receive intimidating phone calls morning, noon and at night. I have pleaded with all the competent authorities to afford me protection, but to no avail.

“It is for this reason that I humbly plead for the public protector’s assistance regarding my safety. I live in constant fear because of the threats made against me.”

Worse still, Kabila said, he could not be accepted as an exile anywhere in the world because the South African government, through the National Prosecuting Authority, has damaged his reputation.

Because of the whole situation regarding his safety, Kabila has appealed to the public protector to afford him the minimum protection that is available.

Neither the Presidency nor the public protector’s offices had responded to questions by the time of going to press.

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said Kabila’s complaints were being investigated.

The Sunday Independent