In a real-life version of the Tom Hanks movie The Terminal, a Chinese woman is finally on her way home to Stutterheim after spending 37 days living in a tiny room at Cape Town International Airport.
The hellish ordeal of eating airport junk food, sleeping on a single bed in a cold cell, and being forced to answer questions without an interpreter, came to a temporary halt on November 4, when Meizhu Chen was granted interim entry back into the country.
Yesterday, immigration lawyer Craig Smith filed a review application with the Cape Town High Court to have this order made permanent. In addition, Smith is asking the court to declare the conduct of the Home Affairs Department and its employees inconsistent with the constitution, and unlawful.
He confirmed that Chen and her husband, Tongxiang Gao, would return to the Eastern Cape this week, where she runs a small spaza shop.
The couple had visited China to attend the funeral of Gao’s father. But on their return to South Africa on October 5, Chen was detained by airport immigration officials, while her husband was permitted entry.
Her protests that she had a valid work visa were lost in translation and Chen, 36, was ultimately accused of trying to bribe her way out.
She said in court papers immigration officer Unathi Mfebe “profiled me and pulled me out of the arrivals because she thought I was tampering with the permit in my passport”.
“My English is very poor and Mfebe initially conducted an interview without a translator, which made me confused and nervous.”
She said as she could not verbalise her answers, this raised suspicion about her residential and work address.
A Chinese interpreter, a Mr Dong, was eventually contacted telephonically, but this apparently led to further confusion with the phone being passed between the three of them.
Mfebe then told Chen she was sending her back to China on the same flight she came with, and that she would need to buy the ticket. Chen then pulled out her wallet to show she did not have enough money to purchase another ticket and this was interpreted by Mfebe as a bribe.
“Having been refused entry I was detained in a cell at Singapore Airlines .”
Chen was given an allowance of R30 per meal per day, which resulted in her living on junk food, and ultimately her health suffered.
Chen was eventually put into contact with Smith, and on November 4, acting Judge John Riley ordered Home Affairs to release her back into the country pending a review application for the order to be made final. Riley has not yet given reasons for his judgment.
The department, meanwhile, gave oral notice of their intention to seek leave to appeal the interim order.
Smith said: “Where Home Affairs is overzealous and abusive with their approach, the reins need to be pulled in.”
Woman spent 37 days held in airport cell
The hellish ordeal of eating airport junk food, sleeping on a single bed in a cold cell, and being forced to answer questions without an interpreter, came to a temporary halt on November 4, when Meizhu Chen was granted interim entry back into the country.
Yesterday, immigration lawyer Craig Smith filed a review application with the Cape Town High Court to have this order made permanent. In addition, Smith is asking the court to declare the conduct of the Home Affairs Department and its employees inconsistent with the constitution, and unlawful.
He confirmed that Chen and her husband, Tongxiang Gao, would return to the Eastern Cape this week, where she runs a small spaza shop.
The couple had visited China to attend the funeral of Gao’s father. But on their return to South Africa on October 5, Chen was detained by airport immigration officials, while her husband was permitted entry.
Her protests that she had a valid work visa were lost in translation and Chen, 36, was ultimately accused of trying to bribe her way out.
She said in court papers immigration officer Unathi Mfebe “profiled me and pulled me out of the arrivals because she thought I was tampering with the permit in my passport”.
“My English is very poor and Mfebe initially conducted an interview without a translator, which made me confused and nervous.”
She said as she could not verbalise her answers, this raised suspicion about her residential and work address.
A Chinese interpreter, a Mr Dong, was eventually contacted telephonically, but this apparently led to further confusion with the phone being passed between the three of them.
Mfebe then told Chen she was sending her back to China on the same flight she came with, and that she would need to buy the ticket. Chen then pulled out her wallet to show she did not have enough money to purchase another ticket and this was interpreted by Mfebe as a bribe.
“Having been refused entry I was detained in a cell at Singapore Airlines .”
Chen was given an allowance of R30 per meal per day, which resulted in her living on junk food, and ultimately her health suffered.
Chen was eventually put into contact with Smith, and on November 4, acting Judge John Riley ordered Home Affairs to release her back into the country pending a review application for the order to be made final. Riley has not yet given reasons for his judgment.
The department, meanwhile, gave oral notice of their intention to seek leave to appeal the interim order.
Smith said: “Where Home Affairs is overzealous and abusive with their approach, the reins need to be pulled in.”
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