Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma should take steps without delay to safeguard the many South Africans detained in Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday.
A number of South Africans with business interests in Equatorial Guinea are believed to have been rounded up randomly after last week’s arrest of alleged South African mercenaries accused of aiming to overthrow the government of that country.
DA spokeswoman Raenette Taljaard said in a statement while the South African High Commissioner in Gabon was on his way to Equatorial Guinea, ”far too much time has lapsed already before the South African government took an active stance to protect the safety of its citizens”.
She said according to South African businessman Johan Espag, many South Africans with commercial ventures in Equatorial Guinea were rounded up at random, and detained in the climate of suspicion after the alleged coup attempt.
”The DA is deeply concerned about the safety of South Africans in a country with a shocking human rights record — as documented by Amnesty International.
”Where South Africans have violated the law, South Africa’s criminal justice structures must co-operate in investigations.
”However, there are serious concerns about such co-operation when the country in question, Equatorial Guinea, uses torture in detention and procedurally irregular trials…to extract confessions and to secure convictions.”
The DA called on Amnesty International and the International Red Cross to visit those detained to ensure that their human rights are respected.
The Foreign Affairs Department earlier said South Africa’s ambassador to Gabon, Mokgethi Samuel Monaisa, will travel to neighbouring Equatorial Guinea on Thursday to gather more information.
According to the department a number of families have contacted the South African High Commission in Gabon for information on relatives in the country.
Nineteen South Africans had been held but four had been released after they were found to be bona fide contractors.
The embassy of Equatorial Guinea in Pretoria said on Tuesday it have no comment on the matter at this stage.
Zimbabwe’s state-controlled Herald newspaper reported the attorney general’s office as saying that Zimbabwe had no laws to prosecute criminals engaged in mercenary and subversive activities directed against foreign states, contrary to earlier reports that the men arrested in Harare could face the death penalty.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that they will be being charged under firearms control laws with allegedly illegally attempting to buy 10 Browning pistols, 61 AK47 assault rifles, 20 PKM light machine guns, RPG rocket launchers, mortars, hand grenades and ammunition from Zimbabwe Defence Industries, the state arms manufacturer.
They were also charged with violating immigration laws by allegedly failing to declare themselves to authorities when they entered the country. – SAPA