FREE AT LAST

More than two years ago, the first call came: they'd been jailed in West Africa for something they hadn't done. Then, in June this year, the final call: they were coming home! MEGHAN LAWRENCE sat down with Peter Huxham and Frik Potgieter and their overjoyed partners

- MEGHAN LAWRENCE

TWO years and four months - that's how long Kathy McConnachie and Sonja Potgieter spent alone while their partners were held in a prison in Equatorial Guinea, surviving on a diet of rice and water.

Kathy's partner, Peter Huxham, and Sonja's husband, Frik, were arrested on drug-trafficking charges while doing contract work in the Central African country.

The real reason for their arrest is likely political retaliation - South African authorities had seized the yacht and upmarket homes of Equatorial Guinea's vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, and someone had to pay.

It took months of negotiation before Peter and Frik received a presidential pardon and were returned home in June.

The couples are now rebuilding their lives Peter and Kathy in Langebaan and Frik and Sonja in George. YOU visited them to find out how they're coping after their ordeal.

PETER & KATHY'S STORY

A KITESURFER skims through the water in the Langebaan lagoon, his blue and red sail dipping and dancing in the wind.

Kathy (66) watches from the beach, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I never thought I'd see Peter on the water again," she says. "The sea is his second home."

After 20 minutes, Peter (57) emerges dripping from the water. "That was fantastic," he says.

During the long months in Oveng Azem prison, Peter could barely dare to dream of being back in the water. He and Frik were arrested in February 2023 in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, where they were working on the oil tanks of the company SBM Offshore.

Peter called Kathy from the police station.

"Kath, it's serious," he said. "I don't know when I'll see you again."

"Peter, I love you," Kathy said.