Bloemfontein - The family of kidnapped South African Pierre Korkie has asked South Africans to pray for him, a family spokesman said on Monday.
“Tomorrow (Tuesday) marks the one-year anniversary of Pierre's captivity,” Korkie's wife Yolande said in a statement.
“We are calling on the nation of South Africa to seek God's face in fasting and prayer on 27 May.”
Yolande Korkie asked South Africans to for pray for wisdom for all parties involved in negotiations.
Korkie and his wife Yolande were kidnapped by Al-Qaeda militants in Taiz, Yemen, in May last year.
At the time, Pierre was a teacher in Yemen, while his wife did relief work in hospitals.
Yolande was released on January 10 and returned to South Africa on January 13. The Gift of the Givers helped negotiate her release.
The kidnappers demanded a US3 million (about R32.5m) ransom.
The Gift of the Givers tried to make contact with Al-Qaeda through international media and circulated an interview with their office manager in Yemen, Anas al-Hamati.
Al-Hamati was forced to leave Yemen at the end of January for his own safety after Al-Qaeda accused him of stealing the ransom money.
Tribal leaders in Yemen then took over the talks with Al-Qaeda.
On February 25, tribal leaders learned that Korkie was still alive, but in bad health. Since then, no more information was available on his condition.
Gift of the Givers head Imtiaz Sooliman earlier said the foundation was dependent on the goodwill of tribal leaders in the area.
“In an attempt to get international support and with the hope that Al-Qaeda will reconsider releasing Pierre but unconditionally, Yolande has released a second appeal via video.”
Yolande released the video last week.
Sapa