Nyaniso Dzedze turns to law after his wife is detained at OR Tambo amid travel ban

Generations: The Legacy actor Nyaniso Dzedze has turned to social media and the law in a desperate attempt to get his English-German wife, Yana Seidl, released from "detention" at OR Tambo International airport in Johannesburg. 

Yana and Nyaniso were returning to the country from Rwanda in the wake of travel bans announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in an attempt to curb the spread of Covid-19. 

In a video recorded on Friday night, the discouraged husband said: “She hasn’t been to Germany since she was 16. She hasn’t been to Europe or England since last August. We’ve been in South Africa, Zanzibar and Rwanda. All these places are not high-risk but we’re in the airport and we’re not allowed into South Africa because of the corona pandemonium.” 

Since then, the actor has given more details about his situation, which included explaining why they left the country. He said travelled to Rwanda that his wife's three-month visitors' visa could be renewed.

Nyaniso said they have been doing this since they married seven years ago because Yana still does not have SA residency.

"My wife is detained because she has a German passport. We were in Kigali, Rwanda for about six days. A day before we flew back to the country, on March 18,  the president announced that people who were from high-risk countries will not be allowed entry into the country. Yana and I had not been to any high-risk countries so we flew back from Rwanda."

Watch Nyaniso pour his heart out below:

Nyaniso detailed the alleged treatment they received, and particularly how he feels about Yana being denied entry at customs because of her German passport.

"When we arrived at customs she was denied access because her passport is German.

"Now she is being detained at a private detention centre that is neither police nor state official detention. They lock up my wife and all other people detained there in isolated rooms and let them out to eat. This detention is not up to the sanitary standards of the World Health Organisation. There are no hand sanitisers, no hand wash, no gloves or face masks. On top of it all, we are informed the people being detained are going to be financially accountable for their detention. So they're paying to be there, as though they have a choice," Nyaniso said.

TshisaLIVE reached out to the home affairs department, which declined to comment on the matter, saying certain personal information would be necessary before it could comment on this specific case. The department said the home affairs ministry did not have detention facilities at OR Tambo International Airport, and was therefore unable to comment about the situation as it is not within the department's jurisdiction.

The couple's friends have started a public petition on Change.org, mobilising to see Yana reunited with her husband. More than 1000 people have since signed it.

Read the rest of Nyaniso's statement below: