Lamola to be summoned to Parliament to explain efforts to free SA ‘hostages’ in Equatorial Guinea

Parliament’s international relations and cooperation committee is to call on International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola to brief it on what he is doing to secure the release of two South Africans imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea on allegedly trumped-up charges.

The committee decided this on Wednesday, 21 August 2024, at a meeting attended by the partners of the two engineers, Frik Potgieter, 54 and Peter Huxham, 55. Potgieter’s wife Sonja Potgieter and Huxham’s life partner Kathy McConnachie were invited to the meeting by MP Emma Powell, the DA’s spokesperson on international relations and cooperation.

Powell urged the committee to summon Lamola and his department to appear before the committee during the current term of Parliament to explain what they were doing to secure the release of Potgieter and Huxham, who she described as “hostages.”

She said that while Lamola’s predecessor Naledi Pandor had visited Equatorial Guinea on 5 May this year to plead for the release of the two men, “There has been no substantive communication by the department to the families since.

“In light of the lack of communication between our government and the hostages’ families, it is now incumbent on Parliament to determine exactly what steps Dirco is taking to secure the release of our citizens.  

“In today’s committee meeting, it was resolved that the minister and his department would now be called before Parliament to account on all actions being taken to free these engineers,” she said.

The chairperson of the committee, MP Supra Mahumapelo, agreed and told the committee his office would write to Lamola to raise the matter which he said he hoped would receive urgent attention. He said South Africa was part of Africa and did business with the continent.

“And we should be made to feel safe wherever we are on the African continent when we do business.”

He also suggested to Potgieter and McConnachie that they might need to raise the issue directly with President Cyril Ramaphosa to ensure that it received the necessary attention. 

He said he could imagine the pressure and worry the families were feeling about the safety of Potgieter and Huxham.

‘Deeply grateful’

After the session, Potgieter and McConnachie said in a statement “We are so pleased that the committee has agreed to table Frik and Peter’s tragic case, and so deeply grateful. Frik and Peter are innocent. Their only ‘crime’ is being South African. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“The fact that the matter will be on the Parliamentary programme is extremely important. We need to know that our government is prioritising the human rights of its citizens.

“Specifically, we want to know what concrete steps are being taken to secure Frik and Peter’s immediate release. Why has there been no diplomatic action against Equatorial Guinea since the UN ruling? What is being done to ensure regular visits and to bring our beloved men home as quickly as possible? We need answers.”

Read more: UN demands release of SA engineers held in Equatorial Guinea

Asked to respond, Lamola's spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said; "The minister has not yet received such a request. Should it come he will of course engage the committee as the oversight body in line with the constitution."

Potgieter and Huxham were working in Equatorial Guinea for a global oil company when they were arrested in February last year and charged with drug possession. 

In July 2023, Potgieter and Huxham were convicted on the drug charges and each sentenced to 12 years in prison and $5-million in damages, plus other fines to be paid by both.

Their families say the charges were invented and that the real reason for their arrests was that just two days before, a South African court had ordered the seizure of a luxury super yacht belonging to Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.

Read more: Equatorial Guinea won’t release two South Africans until vice-president gets Cape Town villas back

Earlier, the SA court had also seized Obiang’s luxury Cape Town villas in Clifton and Bishops Court. These assets were impounded following a court ruling in South Africa on a separate matter against Obiang, completely unrelated to Potgieter and Huxham. Obiang was clearly furious at the court’s actions, claiming on social media to be a victim of racism. 

On 1 July this year, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s formal opinion, issued on 1 July 2024, declared Potgieter and Huxham’s arrests and continued detention illegal, calling for their immediate release.

As of Wednesday 21 August, the two men had been in jail for 558 days. DM