How to Get Up Again

Many motivational speakers offer solutions, checklists and guides on how to feel better about life and your place in it… my approach is a little different as I share the story on how I survived 491 days in one of Africa’s most brutal prisons.

I hope that by listening to my story, you will be inspired to rise up to the challenges and seize every opportunity to change your life. Motivation comes from making that decision and as you begin to see the effects of taking charge on your circumstances; you will find the will, drive and determination to confront your demons and move forward.

The battle is in realising that you cannot place your trust in God, the stars or the universe and expect things to get better; you have to accept what is happening and make a choice.

Fight or Surrender. It’s up to you; no one can make that decision for you.

While I was in Black Beach prison, I faced heart stopping, life threatening situations at every turn. I was sick, starved, hunted. Severely traumatised, my faith in God was tested to the limit. I watched as many around me slept for up to 20 hours a day, eating just enough rancid, insect riddled rice to survive – they’d given up. There were times when I realised ‘this is it’… I am staring death in the face but I managed to hang on, deep down I wasn’t ready for it all to end; there was still so much living to be done. I would not believe that this was where it ends, it simply wasn’t over for me.

I did not want to just ‘survive’, I still do not just want to breathe the air around me, exist… I want to live!

My decision to live each day using every ounce of willpower to keep going did not give my captors or the ones that put me inside any satisfaction. No matter what happened, I was steadfast in my faith, believing that I would be set free and reunited with my family.
So on behalf of those that cannot speak… I am grateful and blessed to be reunited with my family, a free man able to share my story while many of my brothers remain behind bars, suffering the daily horrors of Black Beach prison possibly never having that chance and for those that do... the sad reality is that they are likely to end up back inside or simply disappear...

By sharing my story, I hope to inspire you on your journey, not only to survive, but to embrace today with all that you have, to look at your life from a new perspective and find renewed hope that there is another way, a chance to dig deep and discover just how powerful you are…

December 2022

featured MEDIA

2023 02 22 Yacht released in Cape Town

Dateline: 2023 02 22: CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
THE SUPERYACHT, BLUE SHADOW, HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY RELEASED BY THE SHERIFF OF THE COURT IN CAPE TOWN

According to my legal representatives, during the course of last week, Teodorin Nguema Obiang, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea petitioned the Sheriff of the Court seeking the immediate release of the superyacht, Blue Shadow, stating that the vessel was a military asset belonging to the Equatorial Guinea Defense Force and threatened to act with 'reciprocity' against South Africa in Equatorial Guinea.

The superyacht was seized on the 7th of February in Cape Town harbour in relation to my ongoing legal dispute with the Vice President regarding the outstanding payment of damages awarded to me after a lengthy court battle associated with my false imprisonment at Black Beach prison between 2013 and 2015.

My legal team have confirmed that the superyacht, which is now sailing under the flag of the Cayman Islands, was subsequently released at 01h00 on Tuesday, 21 February 2023 but remains in port taking aboard fuel and supplies in readiness for its departure.

Daniel Janse van Rensburg
2023 02 22

READ THE FULL STORY BELOW
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A Cautionary Tale

A cautionary tale for South Africans doing business in Africa
Review: Muriel Hau Yoon

Black Beach, by Daniel Janse van Rensburg and Tracey Pharoah (Penguin Random House SA)
This is by no means your average survival tale of some gung-ho testosterone-loaded Rambo-type who endured months of gut-wrenching confinement in a hell-hole prison for some illicit arms deal or failed coup.

Rather, this is the true story of Daniel Janse van Rensburg from Hoekwil, near George – a regular, honest-to-goodness, South African husband, father and son, who gets swallowed up in a Machiavellian maelstrom when a legitimate business deal with a well-connected local tycoon in Equatorial Guinea goes horribly wrong.

Read the Full Story

KFM94.5 Morning Show with Darren Simpson

Daniel Janse van Rensburg joined Darren Simpson on Kfm Mornings to share his remarkable story of surviving one of the most dangerous and notorious jails in the world.

Making friends with shady characters and how he was ultimately set free. A business deal gone horribly wrong resulted in the illegal detainment of South African Daniel Janse van Rensburg in Equatorial Guinea. He was imprisoned on charges of fraud and theft for 549 days — 491 of which were at the notorious Black Beach prison — from December 2013 to August 2015.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW