Owen Kock
Bloemfontein. – Two days after the deadline to pay the more than R32 million ransom for the release of Bloemfontein teacher Pierre Korkie, and there has still been news from his Al-Qaeda capturers.
Relief Organisation, Gift of the Givers, negotiated the release of Pierre’s wife, Yolande, who was captured with her husband in Taiz in May last year. Yolande was released last month without any ransom being paid.
The organisation’s director, Imtiaz Sooliman, says the situation remains tense, especially as they believe Korkie is gravely ill.
"We’ve had no communication from Al-Qaeda, although someone did send us a message at 01h00 on Saturday. The message was sent in English and we could not understand it, it was not very clear.
"The message said something to the effect that, tell Yolande her husband is in good health. Now that is in contradiction to what we know," Sooliman said.
