Cape Town - The government was no closer on Saturday to securing the release of a South African couple kidnapped in Yemen.
A Yemeni parliamentarian had earlier been reported by Yemeni media as admitting to the kidnapping in the southern city of Taiz. But he has subsequently strongly denied it, the same media have reported.
The Department of International Relations and Co-operation has declined to name the couple, at the request of their family.
But Free State online journal Maroela Media has identified them as Pierre and Yolande Korkie, school teachers originally from Bloemfontein.
On Saturday department spokesman Nelson Kgwete said South Africa’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mogamat Jaffer, was still in Yemen talking to Yemeni authorities trying to secure the release of the couple.
“This is taking us longer than we originally thought,” he said, adding that Jaffer had been doing all he could to secure their release for the past four days.
He said the arrest of five people who were caught in possession of the car used in the kidnapping had apparently not provided the lead which had been expected.
The men had subsequently been released, apparently without being charged.
Local media originally reported that MP Abdel Hamid al-Batra had admitted that he had arranged for the kidnapping to pressure the government into solving a land dispute in his favour.
Development officials said Yemeni officials had told Jaffer that the dispute was about a plot of land on which a hotel was being built.
They said the couple had been involved in developing the hotel.
But the Yemen Post reported on Friday that it was in fact an assistant to Al-Batra who has claimed that he had ordered the kidnapping, and that he himself had strongly denied any involvement in the action.
So far, no group, faction or tribe has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, the journal said.
Maroela Media quoted Pierre Korkie’s uncle Hennie Nel as saying that the couple and their two teenage children had moved to Yemen four years ago.
Pierre is now apparently working for a Taiz-based NGO, Rafah Foundation for Development, which works for the development of communities, especially among young people.
Nel said the couple had been on their way back to South Africa for the funeral of Pierre’s father when they were abducted.
Nel said he knew nothing about their being involved in a hotel development. - Sunday Argus