More than 5000 stranded South Africans repatriated
Written by Lethiwe Mdluli on 21 May, 2020
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has facilitated the repatriation by air of 5239 South Africans stranded abroad.
According to DIRCO Minister, Naledi Pandor, hundreds more have also returned through the country’s land borders.
As several countries went into lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 an initial 3637 requested repatriation.
Pandor says the repatriation of citizens has not been easy given the various restrictions implemented by countries across the world.
She says the process involves lot of negotiations which explains why they couldn’t repatriate some as speedily as they wished.
The minister adds that they implemented this process to assist South Africans who were in distress, those stranded at airports, students who were asked to evacuate their places of residence as many countries were implementing lockdown.
On the estimated cost of the repatriation Pandor says this will cost over R90 million.
By: Zilungile Mkhize
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