The International Relations Department will embark on a nationwide awareness campaign to educate citizens about consular services provided in various missions abroad. The initiative follows the upsurge of incidences in which South African nationals have been left distressed or arrested for criminal activities in foreign countries.
South Africa has about 162 foreign missions and embassies across the world. There are currently about 840 South African nationals detained in foreign jails. Just recently a group of distressed young South Africans were detained for close to 100 days in China for violating work permit regulations.
The 51 South Africans fell victims to an agency which recruited them to travel to China to work as English teachers on a study visa. They have since been brought back home after the intervention by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
Charl Venter, who is one of the fathers of the freed victims of the VISA scam, has thanked government for their assistance in securing the release of stranded youngsters, and has advised citizens to conduct thorough research before embarking on foreign travel. “What we have learned is that prior to departing is to speak to Dirco because it is the uninformed that creates problems at the end of the day and then Dirco needs to jump in, so get it right from the ground level then it will take off definitely.”
Meanwhile, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation says the three remaining South Africans detained in China will have to undergo judicial processes before being released or deported back to South Africa. The three are believed to be masterminds behind the VISA scam which saw a group of young South Africans left stranded in the country.
Deputy Minister of the Department of International Relations Reginah Mhaule says the three alleged masterminds of the visa scam will have to be prosecuted for violating the Chinese immigration laws.
“The three remaining in China were recruiters and perpetrators. We cannot as South Africa take away the supremacy of the country because it depends on the laws and the crime committed in the country. But we are not going to stop talking to China. But we can’t interfere in an event when there is an offence.”
Mhaule has also urged South Africans to seek consular advice before committing to any job or business contracts in foreign countries. “We want the people to come to Dirco so that we give them all necessary information and you will know how to communicate with us back home.”
Also present during the launch of the consular services awareness campaign was Stephen McGowan, who spent about six years in captivity after his abduction by the Jihadist rebels in Mali in 2011. He was released from captivity in July 2017.
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