Zimbabwean student appears in court for hijacking SA plane

By Tichaona Sibanda
19 June 2006

A 21 year old Zimbabwean student in South Africa, Tinashe Rioga, appeared briefly in a Cape Town magistrate’s court Monday in connection with an alleged aircraft hijacking attempt.

Over 120 passengers and seven crew were on board flight SA 322 from Cape Town to Johannesburg when Rioga, a third-year information technology student at the University of Cape Town, was allegedly overpowered by fellow passengers on Saturday afternoon.

Thuso Khumalo, a Zimbabwean journalist based in Johannesburg said
state prosecutor Zamani Gcelushe summarised Saturday’s events and said approximately 30 minutes after take-off Rioga tried to hijack the aircraft using an ‘injection syringe.’ A flight attendant was injured during the scuffle.
Rioga apparently planned to force the captain of the flight to go off-route to Maputo in Mozambique. He faces a charge of contravening aviation regulations in that he attempted to seize an aircraft in flight. Khumalo said one other charge likely to be levelled against Rioga is that of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Khumalo said Rioga was subdued before he could enter the cockpit adding that a statement issued by South African airways on Saturday said the captain was able to turn back and landed safely in Cape Town.

‘As soon as the plane was on the ground, police and anti-terror units stormed the plane and handcuffed and leg-cuffed Rioga,’ Khumalo said.

The trial magistrate David Tomisi postponed the matter to June 26 for further bail information. In court Rioga is reported to have spoken briefly, telling the magistrate that he would like the court to assist him in initially applying for legal aid. ‘My family will finalise arrangements,’ Rioga said.

Khumalo said the high level ‘mid-air drama’ involving a Zimbabwean citizen has once again triggered debate in South African about the spate of serious crimes allegedly being committed by Zimbabweans.

‘South Africans have become more xenophobic about all the crime attributed to Zimbabweans,’ said Khumalo.
Meanwhile a medical student from Zimbabwe was assaulted Saturday night in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, according to police reports.
A news agency said three locals, one aged 15 and two 21, are said to have attacked the Zimbabwean student at a bus stop and were apprehended as they attempted to flee the scene.
The suspects claimed that the brawl, which left the Zimbabwean with some bruises, had started after he had refused to let a young woman take his seat in a bus.
Extremism and xenophobia in Russia have been in the spotlight following a wave of race-hate attacks across the country and the publication of a report by Amnesty International that slammed the government for not doing enough to combat the problem.