The foreign affairs department is facing challenges in its efforts to secure the release of two South African air crew members stranded in Equatorial Guinea, where they are pawns of companies involved in a dispute.
Spokesperson Nomafela Kota said on Wednesday the department had informed the families of Sechan Pillay and colleague Ruwaide Kalbine of these challenges.
However, she would not divulge what they were to the media.
Pillay's sister, Nisha, confirmed that she had met foreign affairs officials as well as Global Aviation Leasing (GAL), her brother's employer.
Kota said the department had been in talks with Equatorial Guinea's representative in Pretoria.
Asked whether the matter had caused any rift in relations between the two countries, she said: "For now, no. We just have to wait for the process to reach its final conclusion."
The country's diplomatic office in Pretoria could not be reached for comment.
It is alleged that the local airline, Getra, held Pillay and Kalbine as "insurance", when an aircraft the two worked on for Johannesburg-based Global Aviation Leasing (GAL) left Equatorial Guinea.
Its departure on November 17 took place amid accusations by GAL that Getra and another company, Venatto Trading, were breaching safety regulations.
Within a string of deals, first in the line of companies was GAL, which entered into a contract with Venatto Trading to fly one of its aircraft, signed through a deal with Air Quarius.
Venatto was then contracted to fly goods for the local airline Guinea Ecuatorial de Transportes Aereos (Getra) between the country's island capital Malabo, Bata on the mainland, and Douala in neighbouring Cameroon.
Equatorial Guinea's finance minister is believed to be a shareholder in Getra.