Johannesburg - Two families. One hope. That their loved ones being held for ransom in Mali and Equatorial Guinea will return home safely for Christmas.
And as slain hostage Pierre Korkie was laid to rest on Friday, the families of Daniel Janse van Rensburg, who is being held in a notorious Equatorial Guinea prison, and the Sandton parents of Stephen Malcolm McGown, who is imprisoned by militants in Mali, prayed the men would survive their ordeals.
When Melanie Janse van Rensburg, Daniel’s wife, heard that al-Qaeda militants in Yemen had killed Korkie during a botched rescue by US elite forces, her blood ran cold.
“The news shook me to my core and then reality set in. My husband is in real danger and I just realised that we need to get him home immediately.
“I listened to a radio interview with his (Korkie’s) wife (Yolande), and she said sitting at home waiting for your husband’s release and not knowing if he is alive is like drinking poison, killing you slowly. I know what that feels like.”
Southern Cape businessman Janse van Rensburg, 48, has been locked up in the notorious Black Beach prison for the past year. He is being held for a R1 million ransom after a business deal with a high-profile businessman and politician went sour.
His family has managed to raise only R27 000 of this.
“Although he is not being held hostage by militants, his life is in danger.
“He has had malaria seven times. The worst thing is we don’t know if he is still alive because we’re not allowed to speak to him. We receive updates on his well-being from the government only once a week.”
Meanwhile, McGown’s weary father, Malcolm, was holding on to the hope that his desperately ill wife, Beverley, would live to see their son freed. McGown has been held in a stretch of lonely desert somewhere in northern Mali for 1 120 days.
“Hopefully, Beverley will live to see Stephen come out,” McGown said this week.
His 66-year-old wife has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition he believes has worsened because of their son’s imprisonment.
McGown remained convinced that his son, a banker who holds dual British and South African citizenship, would be released “very soon”.
“I’m still positive – he’s been alive this long. Stephen is going to come out, hopefully soon. We’re just hanging in there.”
McGown was encouraged by this week’s release of Serge Lazarevic, a French national, who had been held hostage in Mali from November 2011.
In a controversial hostage swop deal, Lazarevic was exchanged for three al-Qaeda members who had been accused of terrorism.
He and Dutch citizen Sjaak Rijke appeared in a “proof of life” video released last month. In the video both pleaded emotionally for their release and for their governments to intervene.
Rijke was kidnapped in November 2011 with McGown and Swedish national Johan Gustafsson.
The trio was snatched from a restaurant in Timbuktu, along with a German friend, whom the militants killed immediately.
“We think Stephen is next in line to be freed,” McGown said.
The McGowns spent this week quietly mourning for the Korkie family. Earlier this year, Stephen’s wife met Yolande Korkie, and the two women embraced. The families have kept in contact, united in their shared terror.
“It’s devastating what happened to Pierre,” said McGown. “It’s so unfortunate because Pierre was going to be released. The Americans… were between a rock and a hard place. Our compassion is with them. Yolandi has been very strong.”
Before his capture, Stephen had worked for Investec in the UK and was on his “final adventure” biking through Africa.
The last the McGowns heard from their son was an impassioned video plea that constituted “proof of life” in mid-July.
“There has been no more news from him. But we are hopeful. We just have to wait it out. The government is still saying they are working on getting Stephen released.”
Over the years, though, the militants initial “astronomical” demands for ransom have eased. But McGown didn’t want to jeopardise negotiations that could secure his release. “We’re keeping it low-profile, because if you have a higher-profile, those guys (the kidnappers) will make more demands.”
Janse van Rensburg said she had received telephonic threats that if the ransom for her husband’s release was not paid, he “would not make it out of prison alive”.
Diplomatic efforts to secure his release have failed.
Abigail, the couple’s 21-year-old daughter, who is studying law at Stellenbosch University, said her family was “living a nightmare. I’m so afraid my father might not come home alive. My father also deserves to be rescued. He is also important and his life is in danger.”
Her mother said “I feel so helpless and like everyone has forgotten my husband. I battle to come to grips with how little is being done to get him home.”
Saturday Star