A white South African man suspected of leading a right wing extremist group appeared in court on Tuesday in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the black-run government.
Tom Vorster, a 52-year-old businessman, was arrested on Monday after being on the run from police since August 2002.
Police believe Vorster is one of the leaders of the Boeremag, a shadowy right wing group accused of planning attacks on police and army bases in a bid to seize control of the government and chase black people out of the country.
Of South Africa's 43-million people, only about 10 percent are white.
Vorster, who was remanded in custody on Tuesday, will stand trial in May 2003 along with 17 other men alleged to be part of the coup plot. They will face charges of terrorism, treason and sabotage, public prosecutors said.
Police said Vorster had not been linked to nine bombings in the black township of Soweto that killed one woman and which government officials blamed on white racists.
But police said they were expecting to make four or five more arrests linked with the alleged coup plot.
So far 20 men have been arrested in connection with the suspected plan to overthrow the African National Congress-led government. Charges against two of them have been withdrawn and four others have been released on bail.
All are members of the white Afrikaans-speaking community, descended from Dutch and French settlers who arrived on the southern tip of Africa three centuries ago.
White Afrikaners dominated the political scene in South Africa under apartheid, which ended in 1994. They make up more than half of the 4,5-million whites in the country, but only a tiny group are thought to be right-wing extremists.
Police said Vorster had been a member of the "burgermag" or citizen's force of volunteers, made up of former white military men who had served in the defence force as conscripts under apartheid.