South Africans stuck in China desperate to come home

About 100 SA citizens stuck in China are longing to return home to their families.

However, as it stands, the odds are against them. Their last glimpse of repatriation was dashed when an SAA flight scheduled for June 17 was cancelled.

Among the group is a former East London primary schoolteacher who grew up in Phakamisa outside King William’s Town. Thandokazi Mayo worked as a teacher in China’s Liaoning province since last year.

When Covid-19 hit and the country went into lockdown, things changed drastically.

Their flight was to depart from Beijing Capital International Airport. However reports show that flights from the airport were cancelled due to Covid-19 fears.

“I had hoped that we would all be officially repatriated on June 17,” said Mayo, who is staying with a friend.

Her friends started an online campaign to raise funds for her ticket back home.

“In the midst of all the changes that were brought by corona, I had wanted to come back home, but by March both China and SA had strict travel restrictions in place and going home wasn’t as easy as purchasing a flight ticket back home.

“I’m not the only South African seeking this option, there’s a large group. It honestly feels like the government is ignoring us, or our repatriation is not that important.”

She appealed for help.

“I am also afraid that there could be a second wave and I just don’t want to die in a foreign country. I am surviving on my savings.” 

Mayo said only those in Wuhan were repatriated.

“I don’t have any regrets about coming to China. I wanted to grow as a person. There’s no way I could have known that soon after arriving in China there would be a virus outbreak.

“My mother is over 60. I would really like to be with my family during this difficult time.”

Jay Nel of Benoni in Gauteng shares Mayo’s pain.

“My employment contract was terminated. I had to move out from my apartment. We  sent e-mail upon e-mail, contacted the department of international  relations & co-operation and the embassy in Beijing. Both departments are mute, and utterly rude if you are lucky enough to get a response at all,” he said.

“I feel so disappointed by the SA government. All we hear is ‘be patient, wait, we will revert in due course’. I don’t want to hear this any more, I need to get home. It’s my human right to be repatriated back to my home country.

“We had to get family and friends to raise funds for us for this SAA flight, which did not happen. I am drained, tired, stressed, my body is on the edge of giving in. This is unacceptable and inhumane,” Nel said.

A sobbing Madeleine Smit, a teacher from George, said life was hard because of salary cuts and sometimes not receiving a salary at all.

“My last salary was in December. I am a single mom and I have expenses to pay. We need to get out of here. I can’t begin to tell you what we have been through. We have been sending e-mails to whoever can help us. We have been on our knees. Our parents are fighting for us and we really expected the country to fight for us,” she said.

With new cases reported in Beijing, they feared they could be locked down in China again.

But the thought of seeing their families again kept them going, they said.

SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said the repatriation flights “regrettably could not operate due to outstanding decisions relating to approvals to fly”.

“The matter is receiving attention.”

“In the event we obtain requisite permissions to operate, SAA is willing to fly to China, as we did to many other parts of the world to repatriate foreign nationals and South Africans to their respective home countries,” he said.

“SAA, just like many other airlines, gets invited to operate repatriation flights which must be approved by government before we operate.” 

International  relations & co-operation spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said: “We are aware of them and we will work with the embassy to assist them to come back home.”

In the public interest, most of our coronavirus news isn’t behind our paywall, and is free to read. To support our mission of delivering award-winning, independent local news, subscribe from as little as R45 per month by clicking here.