Freed mercenaries praise Zuma for their release

“We were told that Zuma and his government were involved in the negotiations for our release and today we are free,” Niek Du Toit was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

Du Toit, along with Sergio Cardoso, Jose Sundays and George Alerson with British citizen Simon Mann, were granted presidential pardons on humanitarian grounds on Tuesday and released into the custody of the country's embassy in Malabo. Their release came ahead of a visit to the oil-rich West African state on Wednesday by Zuma along with his foreign, energy and state security ministers.

However the presidency said the visit was not related to the pardon.

“We can't believe it. It doesn't feel real. When they told us we were going home, I thought they were playing a cruel joke on us,” said Du Toit via a cellphone, the newspaper reported. The five were sentenced to 34 years each for their role in a plot to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema as head of the former Spanish colony. Du Toit, who had met Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Mann through his West African business enterprises, said he was only aware of what he was going to take part in in the final days before the coup.

“By the time I knew what we were going to do, it was too late to turn back. While I did it for adventure, I also did it for the lucrative business investment opportunity I was promised,” he said.

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