A new court case, set to begin Monday (13 March), is expected to uncover a\u00a0failed plot to assassinate president Nelson Mandela during his 1994 inauguration.<\/p>\n
This follows the filing of a lawsuit against the then-Minister of Safety and Security and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, by former Mandela top cop,\u00a0Major-General Andre Lincoln.<\/p>\n
Lincoln was appointed as\u00a0 head of the presidential investigation task unit in June 1996 with a mandate to investigate organised crime in the Western Cape\u00a0– specifically\u00a0suspected member of the Sicilian Mafia, Roberto (Vito) Palazzolo.<\/p>\n
During the investigations, Lincoln himself was subsequently arrested\u00a0on 47 different counts including fraud, drunken driving and theft.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0is now suing for R15 million in damages he suffered\u00a0when he was “maliciously” criminally charged while investigating top secret police activities. It is expected that part of the evidence he will present will surround the controversial\u00a0covert police operation, ‘Project Donna’, involving the printing of counterfeit money.<\/p>\n
Lincoln is further expected to testify how several of the officers involved in Project Donna were linked to a plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela at his inauguration at the Union Buildings in Pretoria in 1994.<\/p>\n
This was confirmed by News24 <\/a><\/strong>which reportedly holds\u00a0a transcript of court proceedings dating back as far as 2002, detailing the Mandela assassination plot. The transcripts, which were obtained from one of Lincoln’s previous appeal cases, refer to a foiled sniper-assassination attempt and concerns that the attempt were never properly investigated.<\/p>\n “It looked as if information was obtained that someone, a sharpshooter, would shoot President Mandela at his inauguration,” noted Peter Viljoen, a former member of the presidential task\u00a0in the obtained transcripts.<\/p>\n “With the information we got, we established that the firearm to be used, was in a certain office of [the] organised crime [unit].”<\/p>\n Viljoen also noted that he was concerned about the allegations\u00a0that\u00a0the Mandela murder plot were never properly investigated.<\/p>\n “I am just as worried and yesterday afternoon I received a call from Commissioner De Beer, our head of detectives. He is just as worried.”<\/p>\n “But maybe the answer is that they didn\u2019t want us to investigate at that time.”<\/p>\n
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