Jonathan Katzenellenbogen, International Affairs Editor
6 May 2004
Johannesburg — SA still awaiting go-ahead from Zimbabwe
SOUTH African diplomats visited a group of suspected mercenaries imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea this week, and are satisfied with the prisoners' health and condition.
The statement from the foreign affairs department comes amid a debate over whether SA should intervene in the matter to protect the rights of its citizens.
Until Tuesday this week, government had argued consistently that the matter was out of its hands.
The South African embassy in Zimbabwe is still waiting to hear from the Zimbabwean authorities on whether or not it can send a diplomat to visit the South Africans among the group that is being held in Harare.
The statement from the foreign affairs department on visits made to the suspected mercenaries comes a day after the lawyer representing the group being held in Zimbabwe said no foreign affairs officials had yet visited his clients.
The department said it had informed the prisoners' families of the findings and would continue to visit them.
The 70 men were arrested in Harare nearly eight weeks ago on charges of planning to depose Equatorial Guinea's president.
Eight weeks is an unusually long period for diplomats to wait to be given access to their citizens who are imprisoned in a country.
South African diplomats from Gabon first visited the group in Equatorial Guinea soon after they were arrested. Eight men in that group are South African citizens.
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said yesterday it was an "unacceptable state of affairs" that no visits to those held in Harare had taken place so far.
"South African citizens (are) being held in very difficult circumstances (and) are being left to fend for themselves in a foreign country," he said. "The South African government has the responsibility to act on behalf of its citizens to see that their rights are upheld, regardless of what charges they face."
Gibson also said he planned to ask Foreign Minister Nkosazana DlaminiZuma what steps were being taken to ensure that South African citizens being held in Zimbabwe received a fair trial, and just and humane treatment.
Last week the foreign affairs department said that it would offer consular services, including visits, to the prisoners. However, the department said it could do little about Zimbabwe's threats to extradite the suspected mercenaries to Equatorial Guinea, where they could face the death penalty.
But a Cape Town-based advocate, Anton Katz considered an authority on extraditions has said the department may have an obligation under the constitution to offer "diplomatic protection" to the suspected mercenaries. This is particularly so if they are unlikely to receive a fair trial in the country.
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