Envoys get ‘scary’ treatment
SA diplomats in Malabo appealed for Zuma’s intervention
● South African embassy staff in Equatorial Guinea feared for their safety and requested help from President Jacob Zuma during a diplomatic stand-off in 2015, according to documents that have surfaced in the High Court in Cape Town.
At the time, the diplomats were frantically trying to rescue South African businessman Daniel Janse van Rensburg, who had been imprisoned illegally in the notorious Black Beach prison in the capital, Malabo.
Janse van Rensburg claims he was the victim of a botched aviation deal involving Equatorial Guinea Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He is suing the president’s son for R75-million.
Court documents include a Department of International Relations and Co-operation dossier detailing the stand-off between the two countries over Janse van Rensburg.
E-mails and reports reveal the matter reached boiling point in 2015, shortly before the South African was released suffering from a potentially fatal illness.
In one report a senior diplomat raises concern about diplomats’ safety and suggests involving Zuma. “The [South African] mission’s experience with some government officials in Malabo is they do not have respect for diplomats, and the South African embassy in particular on this case,” the report said.
“This puts our position and safety in a predicament. The mission requests that Mr Janse van Rensburg’s matter be given urgent attention, and the only solution to this case will probably come from President Zuma himself looking at the involvement of senior officials who had dealt with the matter but had all failed to resolve the case.”
The documents also reveal how Janse van Rensburg was seized at Malabo airport while in the custody of South African diplomatic staff. “The treatment meted out to the embassy at the airport earlier today is not only scary and shocking, but it puts the embassy officials in a predicament,” the report said.
“What is more disturbing is this had [also] happened in the past when Mr Janse van Rensburg was supposed to leave the country. My understanding is that when the embassy official was manhandled and threatened to stay [out of it], nothing was done about it.”
Court officials last week descended on Obiang jnr’s R50-million mansion overlooking Clifton’s Fourth Beach to seize assets to offset a R129 000 legal bill related to the civil case. The visit was enough to prompt Obiang to pay the bill, but he may need to cough up a lot more.
The high court attached the home last year in preparation for the lawsuit, but Obiang has instructed his lawyers to appeal, compounding Janse van Rensburg’s plight.
The George businessman told the Sunday Times this week he was battling to feed his family and pay mounting legal bills. Obiang’s appeal was designed to frustrate him.
“I am unable to work; this ordeal has affected my concentration,” he said. “I am busy with counselling for post-traumatic stress. It is not something that you can forget. That is why I am seeing a therapist to try and see if I can put it behind me. I can’t go on like this.”
Obiang’s legal bill relates to an unsuccessful application he lodged to try to prevent the submission of the department’s dossier. Janse van Rensburg’s lawyer, Amish Kika, said the dossier angered Obiang because “obviously it supports our contentions”.
Obiang’s lawyer, Henno Bothma, was surprised the sheriff had been to the property. He confirmed that Obiang was appealing against the court’s ruling that he could be sued in South African courts.
“That bill was settled even before the sheriff went out. We were a bit surprised when the sheriff showed up with us having settled the bill,” said Bothma.
“We feel strongly that another court, when faced with the same set of facts, will come to a different conclusion and therefore we have been instructed to apply for leave to appeal.”
The department acknowledged the existence of the court dossier but declined to answer questions about its contents. In particular, it declined to clarify whether Zuma had intervened in the diplomatic crisis. Zuma is reportedly close to Obiang jnr’s father and visited Equatorial Guinea while Janse van Rensburg was in jail.
Janse van Rensburg said it was unclear whether Zuma had intervened during his visit. “They said I would be getting on the plane with him back home,” he said. Instead, he had spent several more months in jail.