Court throws out Equatorial Guinea vice-president’s bid to save multimillion-rand SA assets

Equatorial Guinea’s vice-president has failed in his bid to overturn a court ruling that led to the attachment of his luxury South African homes in a damages claim for torture by a SA businessman. 

For the past five years, Teodorin “Teddy” Nguema Obiang Mangue and Daniel Janse van Rensburg, who was imprisoned at the central African country’s notorious Black Beach prison for nearly 500 days, have been embroiled in a protracted legal battle in the high court in Cape Town. Obiang is the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president.

Janse van Rensburg was arrested after a business deal with the deputy president’s relative failed. The businessman is suing Obiang, whom he says had him imprisoned at his behest, for more than R70m for “unlawful arrests, imprisonment and torture”.

Janse van Rensburg says Obiang ordered his arrest and was “brutalised to the extent” that he is “permanently physically impaired, psychologically shattered and unable to earn a living”. 

Obiang lost an appeal in the civil suit in 2021 that led to his Cape Town properties being attached.  

His furniture, from his R40m Bishopscourt mansion, was auctioned in a judicial sale. Obiang returned to court to have the order rescinded, and the appeal was heard by a full bench in January.

Obiang accused Janse van Rensburg of “contempt to court”, claiming the sale of his furniture was wrong because he was still trying to get the damages claim order rescinded. He also claimed the court papers were not properly served on him as he was not legally represented at the time. He also took issue with the documents being in English because he speaks French.

But Janse van Rensburg dismissed Obiang’s latest court bid as delaying tactics and asked the court to dismiss the application and slap him with legal costs. 

In addition to his Cape Town properties, Obiang's assets have already been seized or are set to be seized across the world.

Other listed assets reportedly include a Parisian mansion seized by French authorities in 2012, a Malibu mansion, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a Bugatti, an Aston Martin and a 76m super yacht, Ebony Shine, seized in the Netherlands at the behest of the Swiss authorities.

The high court dismissed Obiang’s appeal on Friday and ordered him to pay the legal costs.