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Lamola’s glimmer of hope for two South Africans in Equatorial Guinea prison

Lamola’s glimmer of hope for two South Africans in Equatorial Guinea prison
Prisoners in Equatorial Guinea Peter Huxham (left) and Frik Potgieter. (Photos: Supplied)
Peter Fabricius
By Peter Fabricius
21 Jan 2025
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International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola has met his Equatorial Guinean counterpart to seek the release of Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham.

The families of two South Africans imprisoned for nearly two years in Equatorial Guinea have seen a glimmer of hope in the visit of International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola to that country to seek their release.

Lamola met his counterpart, Simeón Oyono Esono Angue, in the capital Malabo on Friday, 17 January and said that he had raised with him the need to resolve the challenge of the ongoing detention of Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham, two engineers who have been incarcerated in Equatorial Guinea since 9 February 2023 on what are widely believed to be trumped-up charges.  

lamola sa hostages equatorial guinea Prisoners in Equatorial Guinea Peter Huxham (left) and Frik Potgieter. (Photos: Supplied)



Lamola said that President Cyril Ramaphosa had sent him to Equatorial Guinea as his special envoy with a message for the country’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Lamola said that SA looked forward to finding long-lasting solutions to problems in the relationship between the two countries, including the imprisonment of Potgieter and Huxley and the challenges which nationals of Equatorial Guinea face in SA. Lamola did not say what challenges Equato-Guineans face in South Africa. Nor did he give any indication of how Minister Angue had responded to his appeal on behalf of Potgieter and Huxham.

Renewed hope


Shaun Murphy and Francois Nigrini, spokespersons for the Potgieter and Huxham families, expressed renewed hope following Lamola’s meeting: “This visit brings a glimmer of hope to our families, who have endured the prolonged and unjust detention of Frik and Peter for far too long. These two engineers have dedicated years to Equatorial Guinea’s oil and gas sector, and to mentoring young Equatorial Guinean workers.

“We earnestly urge our government to persist in these diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Frik and Peter. Their ongoing detention has inflicted profound distress on them and their families, who suffer daily from the absence of their loved ones. This ordeal has robbed them of nearly two years, time that they can never recover.”

The families emphasised the importance of continued diplomatic efforts. “We firmly believe that through sustained engagement and action, a resolution can be achieved that honours justice and human rights.”

This was Lamola’s second meeting with Angue to seek the release of the two South Africans. He also met him in New York in September 2024 on the margins of the UN General Assembly meetings. In March 2024, Lamola’s predecessor Naledi Pandor also travelled to Equatorial Guinea to meet Angue on the same mission. 

Lamola noted in Parliament in November 2024 that the SA Ambassador in Equatorial Guinea Nolufefe Dwabayo had met Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue in October 2024 in Malabo “and reiterated on behalf of President Ramaphosa and the government the country’s plea for the unconditional and immediate release of the two South Africans to return home to their families”.

‘Retaliation’


Potgieter and Huxham, who had been working for a Dutch company involved in Equatorial Guinea’s oil industry, were arrested in that country in February 2023, two days after South African courts had ordered the seizure of a luxury superyacht belonging to Vice-President Teodoro Obiang Mangue, the president’s son. 

Earlier, South African courts had also ordered the seizure of the vice-president’s two luxury Cape Town villas (in Clifton and Bishopscourt). These assets were impounded following a court ruling in South Africa against Obiang Mangue on a separate matter, completely unrelated to Huxham and Potgieter.

Potgieter and Huxham’s families believe they were arrested in retaliation for the seizure of the properties of the president’s son, a notorious playboy who has used the country’s fabulous oil wealth to buy luxury houses and cars all over the world. 

In July last year, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention implicitly endorsed this view, issuing a formal opinion that the detention of Potgieter and Huxham was arbitrary and illegal, and called for their immediate release. DM

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