Covid-19: Stranded

South Africans stuck in foreign lands after missing last planes home

29 March 2020 - 00:00 By ZIMASA MATIWANE, PHATHU LUVHENGO and PAUL ASH
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Calvin Jacobs is stuck in Ghana.
Calvin Jacobs is stuck in Ghana.
Image: Supplied

Durban father Calvin Jacobs will miss his daughter's birthday because he was left stranded in Ghana as the country closed its airports 12 hours before his departure.

Jacobs, from Morningside, Durban, is a project manager on a gas pipeline in Takoradi, 200km east of Accra. He had tried to fly home on Monday to be with his family before the lockdown.

"My only daughter's 17th birthday is on Sunday, but besides that a father wants to be home at this time to safeguard and protect his family," he said.

"The family has done the necessary shopping to ensure food and household commodities are available. We are in daily communication by video chat."

He said he was escorted out of the airport by armed soldiers on Monday and his booking [on Ethiopian Airlines] was cancelled the same day.

Jacobs said a message from SA's high commissioner to Ghana, Lulu Xingwana, indicated he could come home "most probably the last week of South Africa's three-week lockdown".

Janet Naidu is happy she has her son for company during the lockdown.
Janet Naidu is happy she has her son for company during the lockdown.
Image: Supplied

For teacher Janet Naidu, 48, who has been in lockdown in Xian, China, for 34 days, having her 21-year-old son with her has helped.

"Lockdown can be mentally distressing and most foreigners live alone - having someone is important.

"You have someone to talk to even if it's someone to fight with, nag if you are bored, and cleaning the house together is good," Naidu said.

Originally from Johannesburg, Naidu has been teaching in China for the past four years. She said not having to go about normal day-to-day life was the most challenging aspect of the lockdown. However, she acknowledged that it is what needs to be done to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Lunga Ngqengelele, media liaison officer for the department of international relations & co-operation, said the department was aware of South Africans stuck abroad and was doing all it could to bring them home.

"We are trying through our missions to assist to get South Africans on commercial flights as well as assist with the extension of visas," he said.

Hundreds of South Africans have been left stranded in London as British Airways cancelled flights to SA ahead of SA's countrywide lockdown on Thursday.

Witnesses reported chaotic scenes at London's Heathrow Airport as planeloads of desperate passengers landed at the UK's busiest airport to find their flights to SA had been cancelled only hours before.

One group of at least 40 people had flown on American Airlines from Miami, where they had been working on contract in the Caribbean for MSC Cruises.

Among them was Justine Segal, 23, who said she found out before boarding her flight in Miami that BA had changed the departure time of her London-Johannesburg flight from 3pm to 7.30am the same day.

Faced with the option of being alone in the US or being with colleagues, Segal boarded the flight to London.

On arrival, the group was told that all flights to SA had been cancelled. Segal claimed the airline had ignored repeated requests for help. At 2am the group was taken to a nearby hotel. "We were told this morning we can stay here one more night," she said. "After that we don't know."

Cara Levinsohn also found herself trapped in London. Fearing that the UK would be locked down, she quit her job at an exhibition firm in London to head home to her family. She bought one of the last available tickets on British Airways' Thursday afternoon flight. All seemed on track until she learnt that SA's airspace was to be closed. With no home and no job, Levinsohn is staying with friends.

In Morocco, stranded South African Elsabe Jastrzebski, 63, said she would run out of chronic anxiety medication by Wednesday. "We have been stranded since March 15 and we are battling emotionally and scared," said Jastrzebski, who is on the trip with her husband Ted, 68.

The couple, from Scottburgh in KwaZulu-Natal, are among a group of South Africans stuck in Morocco. The pensioners were left stranded after they were told to leave their hotel as the country escalated its shutdown measures - just four days into their trip.

Through the assistance of Cape Town businessman James de Wet, who is in the country on a business trip, the couple managed to secure an apartment in Casablanca.

"We are not allowed on the streets without a letter. We are in complete isolation and are the oldest people in the group," Jastrzebski said.


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