Thatcher's coup hearing to be televised

South African television won permission today to broadcast a hearing this week on a request by Equatorial Guinea to question Mark Thatcher about an alleged coup plot in the oil-rich nation.

The Cape High Court ruled that the South African Broadcasting Corporation could televise a delayed broadcast of the hearings tomorrow and Wednesday on the legality of a government subpoena targeting Thatcher.

The 51-year-old businessman son of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher was arrested in Cape Town in August for allegedly helping to bankroll a botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea.

He was subpoenaed to appear in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court in September after the South African government granted an Equatorial Guinea request to question him about the allegations.

Thatcher’s lawyers argued, however, that it was unconstitutional to subpoena him to respond to those questions while he has related South African charges pending.

The issue will be taken up tomorrow and Wednesday.

Equatorial Guinea wants to question a number of prominent Britons about allegations they financed a plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled Africa’s third-largest oil producer for the past 25 years.

Thatcher’s lawyers have maintained his innocence, saying he will cooperate with authorities.

Last month Simon Mann, a former SAS officer and noted soldier of fortune accused of masterminding the botched coup plot was sentenced to seven years in prison for trying to buy weapons from Zimbabwe’s state arms manufacturer.

Mann’s 67 accused co-conspirators, arrested when their ageing Boeing 727 landed at the Harare International Airport on March 7, received sentences of 12-16 months for minor immigration and aviation violations.