Professor Cloete

Four South African military personnel were arrested by HM Customs & Excise officers in Coventry in March 1984 for allegedly conspiring to export arms from Britain to apartheid South Africa in contravention of the mandatory UN Security Council arms embargo. They became known as the Coventry Four. In the UK, Her Majestys Customs and Excise is a department of the British Government. ... The Precinct in Coventry city centre. ... Look up March in Wiktionary, the free dictionary March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Petty apartheid: sign on Durban beach in English, Afrikaans and Zulu Apartheid, which means apartness or separateness in Afrikaans, was a system of racial segregation that operated in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s. ... United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A session of the Security Council in progress The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ...

Four plus one

The Coventry Four were:

• Hendrik Jacobus Botha;
• Stephanus Johannes de Jager;
• William Randolph Metelerkamp; and,
• Jacobus Le Grange.

A fifth man, professor Johannes Cloete of Stellenbosch University – a key player in South Africa's missile development program – was arrested at the same time as the Coventry Four. But, according to The Guardian of December 17, 1988, Cloete's arrest was quickly followed by his release without charge on instructions from senior Whitehall officials. The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Whitehall, London, looking south towards the Houses of Parliament. ...

Due process

Having appeared before Coventry Magistrates Court, the Coventry Four were remanded in custody and their passports confiscated. But, after an alleged intervention from Downing Street, the Coventry Four were granted £200,000 bail in May 1984 and were allowed by a Judge sitting in Chambers to get their passports back and to return to South Africa, on condition that they undertook to return to Britain for their trial. 10 Downing Street, commonly known as Number 10, is arguably the most famous street address in London. ... Chambers may refer to Chambers, Nebraska Chambers County, Alabama Chambers Dictionary of the English Language Chambers of parliament Chambers, a judges office where motions concerning procedure are heard. ...

Controversial visit

In June 1984, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher controversially invited South Africa's president P.W. Botha and foreign minister Pik Botha to a meeting at Chequers in an effort to stave off growing international pressure for the imposition of economic sanctions against South Africa, where both the U.S. and Britain had invested heavily. Although not officially on the meeting's agenda, the Coventry Four affair clouded both the proceedings and bilateral diplomatic relations. Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ... P.W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha, (born January 12, 1916) commonly known as P.W. and as die groot krokodil (the great crocodile) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and State President of South Africa from 1984 to 1989. ... Pik Botha Roelof Frederik Pik Botha (born April 27, 1932, in Rustenburg, Transvaal, South Africa), is a South African politician who served as the countrys foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era. ... Chequers, or Chequers Court, is a large house to the south east of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. ...

Quid pro quo

In August 1984, when anti-apartheid activists – threatened with arrest in South Africa – took refuge in the British consulate in Durban, Pik Botha decided to retaliate by refusing to allow the Coventry Four to return to Britain for their trial. The £200,000 bail money was thus forfeited by South Africa. Quid pro quo (Latin for something for something, many times understood by English speakers as what for what or tit for tat) is used to mean, in the English speaking world, a favor for a favor (in other linguistic contexts, such as Portuguese and French, it means a misunderstanding, a... Central area of Durban Durban is a city in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa (29°53′S 31°03′E). ...

Re-surfacing

The Coventry Four affair re-surfaced on December 7, 1988 when The Guardian published a letter – scathingly critical of Mrs Thatcher – from British diplomat, Patrick Haseldine, which was entitled The double standards on terrorism. December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... Patrick Haseldine at N°10 Downing Street in July 1994 Patrick Haseldine (born July 11, 1942 in Leytonstone) attended St Ignatius College (1953–58), a grammar school in north London. ...

References

• Coventry Evening Standard, March 31, 1984 reporting the arrest and detention of the Coventry Four
• The Guardian, December 7, 1988 The double standards on terrorism
• The Guardian, December 13, 1988 Letter from lawyer, Geoffrey Bindman
• The Guardian, December 17, 1988 "Fifth man" professor identified in South African weapons ring David Pallister and Richard Norton-Taylor