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| South Africa: Nelson Mandela coup plotters sentenced | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The ringleader of a white supremacist plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela and drive black people out of South Africa has been sentenced to 35 years in jail, state media have reported. | The ringleader of a white supremacist plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela and drive black people out of South Africa has been sentenced to 35 years in jail, state media have reported. |
| Former university lecturer Mike du Toit was convicted last year of treason for his leadership role in the plot, after a trial lasting nine years. | |
| He led the Boeremag, a militia of white supremacist loyalists. | He led the Boeremag, a militia of white supremacist loyalists. |
| In 2002 it attempted to overthrow the governing African National Congress. | In 2002 it attempted to overthrow the governing African National Congress. |
| Twenty other Boeremag members convicted of high treason were given jail terms of between five and 35 years in the court in Pretoria. | |
| In July 2012 du Toit was convicted for being behind nine bombings in Johannesburg's Soweto township in 2002. | |
| He was the first person to be convicted of treason in South Africa since white minority rule ended in 1994. | |
| Analysts say that while race relations in South Africa are still tense, white extremist groups like Boeremag, which means Afrikaner Power in Afrikaans, have very little support. |