The repatriation of over 5,000 South Africans who were stranded abroad by coronavirus restrictions has cost Pretoria only about R10 million – far less than the R90-million it had expected – mainly because of a donation of millions of litres of jet fuel by Sasol.

International Relations and Co-operation Minister Naledi Pandor told the media on Thursday that her department (Dirco) had facilitated the repatriation by air of 5,239 South Africans stranded abroad since the national lockdown on 26 March 2020 when the country’s borders were closed. 

“This means that more South Africans have now been repatriated than the initial 3,637 who had requested repatriation,” she said. 

“Hundreds more have also returned through our land borders.”

Pandor said the donation of fuel from Sasol had enabled the government to use South African Airways – which is in business rescue – to conduct many flights to bring stranded South Africans home.

And many of these stranded South Africans had paid for their own tickets. The government had also kept down costs by requesting foreign airlines flying cargo to South Africa, to allow stranded South Africans to travel in their passenger cabins. 

Though Pandor did not say so, the government’s repatriation costs were also apparently kept down by sending many stranded South Africans home on flights returning to South Africa after repatriating foreigners stranded in this country. At least some of these flights were fully paid for by the foreign governments concerned. 

Pandor recalled that the government’s repatriation effort had been a “humanitarian mission”, to help nationals in distress. Initially, these were those stranded at airports, students who had been asked to evacuate their places of residence as many countries were implementing their lockdowns, the elderly and those who needed medical attention.

Later, the government began also to help other categories of South Africans, such as those who had lost their jobs due to companies and schools being affected by the lockdowns or those who had run out of money to sustain themselves abroad.

“The process of repatriation is not easy, given the various restrictions implemented by countries across the world. The process involved a lot of negotiations with multiple stakeholders, which explains why we couldn’t repatriate some as speedily as we wished,” Pandor said. 

She added that she was aware of many other South Africans who remained stranded abroad and she appealed to them to remain patient “as we explore and negotiate ways of bringing them back home”. 

“In the coming days and weeks, we are going to continue bringing our nationals home. This will include from the United States of America, Russia, Vietnam, India, Qatar, the United Kingdom etc.”

Pandor said the government would first require evidence that the KLM flights were carrying only genuine South Africans who had indicated to the South African government that they wanted to come home and that KLM would not be filling its planes “with people who wanted to go on holiday to South Africa”.

Pandor also gave the assurance that the government was negotiating to allow South African citizens who usually lived or worked abroad but were stuck in South Africa, to return to the countries where they lived or worked.

But she added that Pretoria could not force other governments to accept these South Africans back. She said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were refusing to allow South Africans back because of their strict lockdown regulations.

Some stranded South Africans were dismayed by Pandor’s response to questions about their plight. One was Cynthia Immelman, whose son Joshua Doman has been in detention in Beijing for three months. 

Immelman told Daily Maverick that her son had been sentenced to two weeks in detention in February for failing to renew his visa. He was given the choice of paying a fine and purchasing a new visa or doing two weeks in detention after which arrangements would be made to deport him. He chose detention because he couldn’t afford the fine and the new visa.

“We were advised by the Chinese authorities to purchase a ticket for the 25th of March,” she said. “Arrangements were meant to be made for transportation to the airport.” But she was then advised by Dirco that the flight had been cancelled. 

However, the flight had not been cancelled, and landed in South Africa without Joshua. 

“Because of someone’s bungling, my child is still in detention two months later.”

And it had become clear from Pandor’s briefing that she didn’t know these facts about her son’s case, Immelman said. 

Pandor said the South African government had indicated to the Chinese authorities that when the legal process had been finalised South Africa would attempt to assist Joshua. Pandor was clearly not aware that the Chinese authorities had been willing to let him go home over two months ago, Immelman said.

Immelman was also incensed that Pandor had suggested that Joshua had been involved in a “fracas” with the Chinese authorities.

She vehemently denied this, saying that Joshua had handed himself over to the Chinese police when his visa expired 

Immelman had managed to speak to Joshua on the phone for the first time in three months and was relieved to discover that he seemed to be in good health. The call was arranged by the South African embassy in Beijing. 

Joshua Doman is one of about 250 South Africans who have been stranded in China since the travel lockdown on March 26, trying desperately to get Dirco to help them get home. And some of them are also furious about Pandor’s response to questions about their plight. 

She advised them to get in touch with the embassy in Beijing to explain their plight so the embassy could confirm their identities and other details and then help them.

One of the stranded South Africans who listened to Pandor’s press briefing said, “She obviously knows nothing about our case.” She sent Daily Maverick a 38-page dossier detailing all the correspondence which the group had with Dirco for the past seven weeks, either through the embassy in Beijing or through Pretoria. 

Pandor also annoyed others with her answer when she was asked if her government would allow KLM to repatriate South Africans from the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe.

Pandor said the government would first require evidence that the KLM flights were carrying only genuine South Africans who had indicated to the South African government that they wanted to come home and that KLM would not be filling its planes “with people who wanted to go on holiday to South Africa”.

The relative of a South African who is trying to return from the Netherlands said Pandor had given completely the wrong impression. He said KLM was willing to fly pure repatriation flights but that the South African government was blocking it from doing so. DM