Engineers’ detainment in Equatorial Guinea sparks questions on gov’s inaction

More than seven months after they were first arrested, Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham appear to have been caught up in a tit-for-tat fight between Equatorial Guinea and the South African justice system – and questions are being asked if the South African government has abandoned them.

The families of two South African engineers locked up in Equatorial Guinea’s Mongomo Prison, have been calling on the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) to pursue every avenue available to help bring them home.

After Dirco director-general Zane Dangor expressed support to the families and friends of the detained men in July, the department has allegedly not arranged for regular contact with the men, responded to or intervened politically to help get them home as promised to the two families.

Nor has it responded to numerous requests from The Citizen for more information. Potgieter, 53, and Huxham, 55, were arrested at their hotel in Malabo in Equatorial Guinea on February 9 on drug-related charges and subsequently found guilty of trafficking and illicit possession of drugs and sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment each in June.

Additionally, they were ordered to pay $5 million (about R90 million) each in damages with an additional $2.5m fine to be shared between them.

Political and security analyst at Riskline Ryan Cummins noted that due to Equatorial Guinea’s business operating environment which was deemed highly challenging, “this seems more like a commercial/private and not diplomatic dispute, which constrains the government in intervening”.

“The country has a generally underdeveloped regulatory framework, while administrative processes are impeded by a lack of capacity and high levels of corruption,” he said.

“Government officials and their families are involved in most facets of the economy, which has elevated the prevalence of private-sector corruption and interventionary behaviour by the state.”

“There are limited avenues to address commercial disputes, which has led to a number of cases where foreign entities in the country have been subject to asset seizures and/or detention following disagreements over commercial agreements which are inconsistently honoured or reneged upon.”

READ: Yacht, homes of Equatorial Guinea’s vice president seized in South Africa

Meanwhile, since the arrest and sentencing, the families believed the matter was politically motivated, linking the arrest and sentencing to the seizure of a superyacht and luxury properties in Cape Town, owned by the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang.

Shortly before the arrest in a thread on social media platform X, Obiang expressed his disappointment in the SA justice system following his case against Daniel Janse van Rensburg after he was accused of the theft of R1 million from an aviation deal with a local businessman and politician.

Following the case a superyacht was seized by local courts linked to damages awarded in favour of Janse van Rensburg who was imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea for 423 days.

Last month, Huxham’s partner of 30 years, Kathy Mc C o n n a c h ie , was at home in Langebaan when she received the unexpected call from the representative of the UK High Commission to Cameroon, who secured an official visit to see Huxham, on the basis that he holds both SA and UK citizenship.

Francois Nigrini, spokesperson for the Huxham family said: “Kathy was completely shocked to receive the call and as you can imagine, it was very emotional, since she hasn’t spoken to Peter for seven months. Peter said he and Frik have written letters to their families every day since their arrest, but Kathy confirmed to him that not a single one has been delivered to them.”

Image credit: Caxton Network News