SA men still detained in Equatorial Guinea

Update

GEORGE NEWS - The George resident and a fellow South African who were arrested in Equatorial Guinea (EG) on Thursday 9 February, are still being held captive in one of the world's worst prisons, Black Beach in Equatorial Guinea.

Since the day of their arrest, the families have not heard any news of their loved ones.

Frederic Potgieter (53) from George and Peter Huxham (55) from Langebaan were arrested at the Anda China Malabo hotel while they were stopping over in EG to catch a flight back home the next day.

Police arrested them on a complaint believed to be related to a shipment of cocaine found on an international flight. The drugs were apparently discovered on the plane that the men arrived on from Singapore on 4 January.

They have still not been formally charged for any criminal offence, yet they are kept in a prison known to be inhumane and fit only for the most violent criminals on the planet.

Their families remain confident of Potgieter and Huxham's innocence and are only focusing on their safe return at this stage. Their arrest took place two days after EG vice-president Teodorin Nguema Obiang's R300m superyacht, Blue Shadow, was seized in the Cape Town harbour.

The vessel was seized to be auctioned to honour a court order, which stated that Obiang had to pay R40m damages to Hoekwil businessman Daniel Janse van Rensburg, who was detained illegally in the same prison from 2013 to 2015.

Superyacht released

In the meantime the multimillion rand vessel that was seized by the Sheriff of the Court three weeks ago, has been released.

After the yacht was seized, Obiang threatened to confiscate South African assets and close EG air- and maritime space for SA boats or planes entering and exiting the country if the yacht was not released.

Obiang petitioned the Sheriff of the Court seeking the immediate release of the superyacht, stating that the vessel was a military asset belonging to the EG Defence Force and threatening to act with "reciprocity" against South Africa in EG.

The superyacht, which is now sailing under the flag of the Cayman Islands, was released at 01:00 on Tuesday 21 February and left port on Saturday 25 February. It was spotted near Walvis Bay at the weekend.

Obiang has been very outspoken about the entire ordeal on Twitter.

Not negotiating

In a recent post on Twitter, Obiang said that there was no negotiation or exchange with "the South Africans in Cape Town for the release of the ship".

"The information handled by the international press is false. And as I said before, in Equatorial Guinea we do not negotiate with traffickers," he tweeted.

All attempts by George Herald to reach the SA embassy for comment were unsuccessful.

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