One year on, South African engineers still languishing in jail in Equatorial Guinea
Families of two South African engineers, Frederik (Frik) Potgieter and Peter Huxham who have been jailed in Equatorial Guinea on ‘trumped-up’ drug charges, have intensified the call for their release. Today marks one year since their arrest and detention. Thursday 9 February 2023. South African engineers Frederik (Frik) Potgieter and Peter Huxham were at the Anda China Malabo Hotel in Equatorial Guinea’s capital, all set to fly back to South Africa the next day. They had just completed a five-week work rotation on offshore oil and gas platforms for their employer, the Dutch company SBM Offshore.
However, what was supposed to be their last night in Equatorial Guinea became the beginning of a long and torturous ordeal for Potgieter and Huxham in the country.
The authorities arrested them at their hotel on a charge believed to be related to a shipment of cocaine found on an international flight from Singapore. Initially, it was said that they arrived in Equatorial Guinea with the same flight on 4 January 2023. But it emerged that Potgieter and Huxham landed in Equatorial Guinea on different flights on different days.
Those close to the two men say although they worked for the same company for 11 and 15 years respectively, they had not met prior to their arrest, as they were working on two separate vessels.
But Equatorial Guinea – accused of decades of human rights violations and abuses, including torture, arbitrary detentions and unlawful killings by Amnesty International – tried them on drug possession charges and sentenced them to 12 years in jail, in addition to a $5m fine plus other fines to be shared between them.
A press statement issued by both families this week said the June 2023 trial of Potgieter and Huxham was marked by numerous irregularities, adding that the sentence and fines were based on outdated penalties for the alleged crimes, indicating an unsettling departure from Equatorial Guinea’s new Criminal Code.
“No witnesses or expert opinions were presented to the court by the prosecutor, nor was any proof presented that the alleged drugs were found on the two men, and further, the nature of the alleged drugs was not tested, or conclusively proven,” the statement says.
Victims of geopolitical tangle
The arrest of Potgieter and Huxham came just two days after South African authorities seized a superyacht and two luxury villas belonging to Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang – also the son of the president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo — after a local businessman won a lawsuit against him for unlawful arrest and torture.
Potgieter and Huxham’s families said their arrest raises suspicions of retaliatory actions against the two South African citizens.
“Frik and Peter are hostages being held by foreign power. These two men are in the situation that they are in [jail] because of an international dispute between South Africa and Equatorial Guinea. Frik and Peter were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Shaun Murphy, a spokesperson for the Potgieter family.
Tutu Alicante, a human rights lawyer from Equatorial Guinea and executive director of EG Justice — an NGO dedicated to promoting human rights, the rule of law, transparency and civil participation in Equatorial Guinea — says the case of Potgieter and Huxham is deeper than just a geopolitical tangle.
“This case is about absolute impunity exercised by an authoritarian kleptocrat, VP Teodoro Nguema Obiang [Teddy], to show South Africa and the rest of the world how he intends to govern once he officially takes over,” Alicante tells The Africa Report.
“It is a gigantic and glaring middle finger — and pardon the expression — to the international community which still insists in fundamental principles of rule of law, such as due process or independence of the judiciary. [VP Obiang] lacks the higher-level thinking required to act strategically in geopolitical terms.”
Alicante adds that Potgieter and Huxham are in jail only because Obiang wants them there, and that “they will remain in jail, until he decides to release them”.
South Africa not doing enough
Today marks one year since Potgieter and Huxham were arrested and detained in Equatorial Guinea. Their families accused the South African authorities of not doing enough to secure their release.
“Judging by events over the past month, specifically at the International Court of Justice [ICJ] it is very clear to us that [South Africa’s] Department of International Relations and Cooperation [DIRCO] has the authority, leadership and capabilities required to intervene on an international level.
“The sad reality, however, is that they have done very little to assist their own citizens, and besides being heartbreaking, this alone should be of grave concern to any South African who travels for work,” said Murphy.
“As the families, we are desperately looking to our government and the relevant departments, to use their expertise and position to engage with their counterparts in Equatorial Guinea, in order to bring home two innocent South Africans, and end the pain being experienced by them and their families and friends,” said François Nigrini, a spokesperson for the families.
“They are hostages, their incarceration is not their fault, but even worse, there is nothing they can do to secure their own release — it is only the South African government who can do this.”
Holding onto hope
Potgieter and Huxham are being held in Equatorial Guinea’s notorious Oveng Azem prison in the eastern city of Mongomo.
“It is a maximum-security facility that is out of sight and out of reach to family members, diplomats, lawyers representing those imprisoned, or any international scrutiny,” says Alicante. “In addition to a large number of political prisoners, there are dozens of innocent young people detained there at [VP Obiang’s] command, when he claimed he was cleaning the streets of vandals.”
Meanwhile, the families of Potgieter and Huxham are clinging to hope as the two men languish in jail. In anticipation of Huxham’s homecoming, his fiancée Kathy, washes and irons his clothes every second week.
Potgieter’s daughter, Jolene, had to postpone her wedding last year because of “the uncertainty as to when he will be released to help with the planning, walk her down the aisle, and enjoy what should be a celebration with family and friends, as well as fulfilling every girl’s dream and be one of the happiest days of her life”.