Cape Town - The South African couple abducted in Yemen are in no danger because the grievance of their kidnappers is against his government, Yemen’s envoy to South Africa said on Thursday.
Hamood al-Ghazali also confirmed that five people had been arrested for the kidnapping.
South Africa’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mogamat Jaffer, was in discussions with the Yemeni government to secure the release of the South Africans, Department of International Relations and Co-operation spokesman Nelson Kgwete said on Thursday. But he added the department had still not had a report from him. He travelled to Yemen from neighbouring Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as South Africa has no ambassador resident in Yemen.
Al-Ghazali gave the assurance on Thursday no harm would come to the couple as the kidnappers had seized them in a dispute with the Yemeni government over ownership of land on which a hotel is being built in the southern city of Taiz.
Kgwete said the two were kidnapped because they were involved in the development of the hotel.
Hakim Almasmari, editor of the Yemen Post, said on Wednesday he had spoken to Yemeni officials who told him they expected the South Africans to be released by Sunday.
South African officials have said the identity of the person responsible for the kidnapping was evidently known to the Yemeni authorities because he is the owner, or claims to be the owner, of the land.
He has been named in the media as a parliamentarian, Abdel Hamid al-Batra. The Yemen Post even quoted him as saying he had told authorities on Tuesday he had arranged the kidnapping in a bid to force the government into solving the land dispute.
Commenting on this, Almasmari said: “Unfortunately, Yemen is witnessing an era where it becomes lawless at times and that is why kidnapping is not a major crime.”
On Thursday on SABC Morning Live, International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane confirmed Jaffer was still establishing the facts about the incident in Yemen. She said the department was in contact with the couple’s family “and they are fine with the progress we are making”.
Cape Argus