Seventeen young South African men who have apparently been deceived into joining Russian mercenary forces in Ukraine are now trapped in the war-torn Donbas region.
But South Africa, being a country with quite a reputable military history, is no stranger to mercenary activities.
What began as an elaborate masquerade ended in international incident in 1981 when a group of South African mercenaries, disguised as members of a tourist drinking society called “The Ancient Order of Froth-Blowers,” attempted to overthrow the government of Seychelles in a spectacular coup that ultimately failed at the airport customs desk.
The audacious plot, led by notorious mercenary Colonel Thomas Michael “Mad Mike” Hoare, aimed to restore ex-President James Mancham to power and remove the current socialist leader Albert René, who had himself taken power in a 1977 coup.
A plan undone by airport security
The carefully orchestrated operation unravelled when a vigilant customs inspector at Mahé airport discovered weapons hidden in the luggage of one of the supposed beer enthusiasts. What followed was a deadly gunfight that left one mercenary dead and several wounded, transforming a covert mission into a desperate escape attempt.
Cornered but not defeated, the mercenaries fought their way to the airport control tower, where they guided an incoming Air India Boeing 707 to landing and commandeered the aircraft. In a dramatic finale to their failed coup, they forced the pilot to fly them 2,500 miles across the Indian Ocean to Durban, South Africa.
The man behind the mission
At 62, Colonel Hoare was no stranger to controversy. The Irish-born mercenary had gained international notoriety during the 1960s Congo crisis and served as the inspiration for the 1978 film “Wild Geese.” His swashbuckling exploits have been chronicled in several books, cementing his reputation as one of the world’s most famous soldiers of fortune.
Hoare’s target, 49-year-old James Mancham, had been a pro-Western leader whose removal in 1977 had shifted Seychelles toward socialist policies – a development that clearly did not sit well with certain interests in apartheid-era South Africa.
International suspicions and diplomatic fallout
Almost immediately, international suspicions pointed toward the South African government, which had been actively working to destabilise leftist governments throughout Southern Africa. These suspicions appeared confirmed by Pretoria’s remarkably lenient initial response to the hijackers.
Rather than extraditing the mercenaries to face treason charges in Seychelles or prosecuting them for air piracy, South African authorities initially freed 39 of the 44 men and brought only minor charges against the leaders.
The international community’s reaction was swift and severe. Multiple nations threatened to exclude South Africa from international air routes unless Pretoria honoured agreements against harbouring hijackers. Under this pressure, the government reversed course and brought hijacking charges against all 43 escaped mercenaries.
The trial begins
Following a five-month trial, Judge Neville James found 42 mercenaries guilty of airplane hijacking. Hoare received a ten-year prison sentence, while his accomplices were given terms ranging from six months to five years – though most were later reduced to six months.
Throughout the proceedings, Hoare remained defiant, insisting his operation had official South African backing. “I see South Africa as the bastion of civilisation in an Africa subjected to a total communist onslaught,” he declared from the dock. “I foresee myself in the forefront of this fight for our very existence.”
His claims gained credibility when it emerged that more than half of the convicted mercenaries had served in either the South African Defence Force or army reserves.
The full extent of South African government involvement remained murky for years until 1998, when the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission officially ruled that the South African government bore responsibility for the attack.
- Source: SA History Online | Wikipedia
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