George businessman flies to safety

PENDING FREEDOM: Daniel Janse van Rensburg of George sits in the VIP lounge at an airport in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea yesterday, with the vice consul from South Africa, Kgopotso John, moments before he was set to fly out the country after being held captive there for two years. PICTURE: SUPPLIED Reporter Caryn Dolley

PENDING FREEDOM: Daniel Janse van Rensburg of George sits in the VIP lounge at an airport in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea yesterday, with the vice consul from South Africa, Kgopotso John, moments before he was set to fly out the country after being held captive there for two years. PICTURE: SUPPLIED Reporter Caryn Dolley

Published Sep 27, 2015

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A George businessman is on his way home after finally fleeing Equatorial Guinea – where he was captive for two years and where he feared he would be murdered.

Daniel Janse van Rensburg, 49, an aviation consultant, was expected to have touched down in South Africa late on Saturday night.

On Saturday, he managed to safely make his way from the South African embassy in Malabo, where he was holed up for two days, and board a plane.

For a tense hour he sat in the aircraft which remained on the tarmac – in a previous attempt to get out the country authorities had removed him from an aircraft – and it took off shortly before 4pm.

He was expected to arrive at OR International Airport on Saturday night.

When the plane left the ground a two-year struggle to get Janse van Rensburg out of Equatorial Guinea ended.

He had been held there because a business deal allegedly had gone sour.

Janse van Rensburg’s ordeal in the country involved being held in what is considered one of the world’s worst prisons, suffering various illnesses, three failed attempts at leaving and having a R1 million ransom being demanded for his release.

Countless government interventions and attempts to try to have him leave the country also failed.

Shortly after the plane he was on took flight his family’s spokeswoman Fran Kirsten sent a short message to Weekend Argus yesterday: “Tears and prayers and shouting in joy. Everyone so relieved,” it said.

Earlier on Saturday Janse van Rensburg had remained hiding in the South African embassy in Equatorial Guinea, waiting to hear if he would be helped.

He tried to leave the country on Thursday and got to the airport, but ended up fleeing to the embassy.

Janse van Rensburg said while walking to a customs desk in the airport eight armed men had approached him and asked him to go with them to a room. He had feared they would kill him in the room and this was why he fled to the embassy.

This was a third time Janse van Rensburg had been prevented from flying out of Equatorial Guinea, despite being given permission to do so on all three previous occasions.

On Saturday before leaving to the airport, he kept busy in the embassy by contacting various government officials in Equatorial Guinea to try to leave.

Kirsten, who was in contact with him via Whatsapp, said he wanted the assurance he would not be harmed if he left the embassy.

“He said until he has people who can guarantee his safety he can’t put a foot out of the embassy.”

Kirsten said Janse van Rensburg had managed to Skype with his wife Melanie, who had been devastated that his attempt to return home on Thursday had been blocked.

Their two children, aged 21 and 23, had travelled to George to support her.

Janse van Rensburg travelled to Equatorial Guinea two years ago and entered into a business deal involving aircraft with the president’s brother-in-law, Gabriel Mba Angabie. The deal allegedly turned sour and Janse van Rensburg was arrested.

It was later found he had done nothing wrong, but instead of being allowed to leave the country, a R1m ransom was demanded for his release.

Janse van Rensburg was detained in the Black Beach Prison for months and at one point was released into the care of South African embassy members.

He twice got to the airport over the two years, only to be rearrested. Thursday was the third time he got to the airport, but did not manage to depart.

After the third attempt, Janse van Rensburg asked South Africans to pray for a miracle.

Sunday Argus

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