Tears of joy as barred coffee shop founder is allowed to return to SA

A coffee shop in Cape Town staffed by people with Down syndrome was spared from having to close its doors as the department of home affairs lifted a ban preventing its owner from returning to South Africa.

There was an air of disbelief and then joy as Wendy Schultz and her husband Wade got the news via a local radio station on Wednesday.

TimesLIVE recently reported on the plight of the couple and their employees at Brownies & Downies in Long Street.

Schultz, a Dutch social worker, started the organisation more than two years ago and has since then been locked in a struggle with the department to get her visa renewed.

She left for the Netherlands in January to marry her South African fiancé, Wade, after being told she could not get married in SA due to the struggle to get her papers filed with the department.

CapeTalk radio host Kieno Kammies reached out to a senior official at the department of home affairs to see if the situation could be resolved.

With the couple live on air – but in different countries – he read out an official response from the department: "The request for the waiving of your undesirable status has been considered and was successful.

“The department has therefore decided to remove the restrictions placed upon your name with immediate effect." 

The document was verified as authentic by the department's Cape metro co-ordinator, Sam Plaatjies, during the live crossing.

The ruling is a lifeline for the coffee shop, which was under threat of closure.

Store manager Tauriq Hendricks told TimesLIVE earlier that Schultz had been told that because she left SA with an expired visa, she would be banned from the country for five years. Her husband returned alone to SA.

Hendricks said the future of six able-bodied Brownies & Downies staff and 25 students with disabilities ranging from Down syndrome to foetal alcohol syndrome hung in the balance.

A post on the coffee shop's Facebook page quoted Schultz explaining what had happened. “I have battled in an appeals process spanning close on two years to sort out my paperwork with the department of home affairs, but seem to hit one snag after the other," she wrote.

"Apart from wishing to be reunited with my husband, Brownies & Downies needs me back in South Africa to continue the work that we have started.

“Essentially, Brownies & Downies runs a training programme where young people with special needs are taught culinary skills so that they are empowered, can have a sense of purpose and can contribute meaningfully to society.”

Since opening Brownies & Downies, Schultz has been inundated with calls from special-needs schools and families with special-needs children. Many wanted to start similar initiatives in other parts of SA because of the success achieved in Cape Town.