South Africa: Today’s latest news and headlines, Thursday, 1 June 2023. Photo: Phill Magakoe / AFP via Getty Images / The Conversation
Overseas travel ban: Stranded South Africans urged to call government
Travel ban: Locals can’t fly back home or visit loved ones! Government has now offered a hand to those who are stranded overseas.
South Africa: Today’s latest news and headlines, Thursday, 1 June 2023. Photo: Phill Magakoe / AFP via Getty Images / The Conversation
The Omicron variant travel ban is a chaotic scene. Many locals are stranded abroad. Mzansi’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has now urged compatriots to call for help.
TRAVEL BAN HELP OFFER FOR SOUTH AFRICANS
The department’s Deputy Director-General Clayson Monyela confidently says his office is in positive talks with the overseas nations that have banned flights to Mzansi in the wake of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
“Minister Naledi Pando is talking to our counterparts and engaging all these countries with a view to persuading them to reverse the travel ban,” Monyela said on Monday.
“We’re engaging and we are hopeful that given that we’ve got very solid and cordial relations with all these countries, we consider them to be friends and partners.”
Should stranded locals need urgent support, a team of staff is available to help at any hour.
“South Africans stranded overseas are urged to call DIRCO Consular Services for assistance. We are a team that’s on standby 24/7 to render these services.”
Contact lines:
The available contact lines on DIRCO’s page only include a Pretoria line as well as an email address.
Tel: + 27 12 351 1000
Email: consular@dirco.gov.za.
RAMAPHOSA SLAMS OVERSEAS NATIONS
Meanwhile, the President has attacked the travel ban imposed on his nation. Cyril Ramaphosa addressed Mzansi on Sunday to state that the ban is simply ‘unscientific.’
Ramaphosa said SA is deeply disappointed by the decision. He also added that the countries that have red-listed us, are going against a commitment made at the G20 summit.
“These restrictions are unjustified and unfairly discriminate against our country and our Southern African sister countries,” he said.
“The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant.
The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic.”
ALSO READ: ‘Complete mayhem’: Travellers jump hoops to leave SA as Omicron hits
