Cape Town - A George aviation consultant is holed up in the South African embassy in Equatorial Guinea, the country where he was held prisoner for two years over a business deal that went sour, and says he fears he will be murdered if he leaves.
Daniel Janse van Rensburg, 49, was walking towards the customs desk at an airport in that country on Thursday, on the brink of finally leaving for South Africa, when eight armed men allegedly intercepted him and tried to take him into a small room.
In a WhatsApp message to his family’s spokeswoman, Fran Kirsten, Janse van Rensburg said: “There was no way that I was going into that room again. They had previously rearrested me in that room and this time I was sure that they would kill me.
“I don’t know how I am ever going to get out of this country and am appealing to the SA government to help me.”
Janse van Rensburg fled to the South African embassy, where he remained late on Friday.
He was trying to sleep on a two-seater couch while waiting to hear what would happen to him.
Responding to Weekend Argus’s questions, sent via Kirsten, Janse van Rensburg said he feared that he if he left the embassy he would be hurt or killed by people angry that he was leaving the country.
He said he would leave the embassy only if his safe return home was guaranteed.
Janse van Rensburg described himself as “mentally and emotionally drained” and asked South Africans to pray for a miracle.
Department of International Relations officials said on Friday they were worried about the way he had been treated and were trying to deal with the matter.
Department spokesman Nelson Kgwete said people had prevented Janse van Rensburg from leaving Equatorial Guinea, even after that country’s Chief Justice gave him permission to travel.
Janse Van Rensburg’s ordeal has so far involved a soured business deal with an influential relative of Equatorial Guinea’s president, a R1 million ransom being demanded in exchange for his release, detention in what is widely known as one of the world’s worst prisons and two other near escapes from the country.
Each of the two previous times that he was told he was free to go, he found himself rearrested.
Yesterday Kirsten said Janse van Rensburg’s wife Melanie was shattered by the latest development.
She had hoped her husband would leave Equatorial Guinea on Heritage Day.
“Melanie is absolutely devastated and worries that (he will be killed) before he manages to leave the country. This is the third time that his return home has been dashed.”
The saga began when Janse van Rensburg went to Equatorial Guinea in 2013 and entered into an aircraft deal with the president’s brother-in-law, Gabriel Mba Angabie.
The deal turned sour and in September that year Janse van Rensburg was arrested.
A court found him not guilty of committing any crime, but instead of being freed, a R1m ransom was demanded for his release.
Janse van Rensburg was detained for months in the notorious Black Beach Prison.
His health took a knock and he suffered various illnesses, including malaria.
In December two years ago he was told he could leave the country, but just as he was about to fly out he was re-arrested.
In March last year he was released into the care of members of the South African embassy in Equatorial Guinea.
But he was later again arrested after being told he could leave the country.
On Friday Kirsten said that in his latest near-escape, Janse van Rensburg had received a letter from Equatorial Guinea’s justice ministry, saying he could leave the country on Thursday.
This was when the gunmen had approached him.
Kirsten said South African embassy officials had been with Janse van Rensburg at the time, and had helped rush him to the embassy.
Calls to the South African embassy in Equatorial Guinea on Friday went unanswered.
Weekend Argus