More South Africans stranded abroad to return home

The country's lockdown which started late March included a ban on all travel - which left some travellers stuck in the countries they were visiting.

Yesterday - 275 South Africans who have spent weeks in the United States arrived back home, and more are expected to land today.

This Friday, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation will be repatriating a further 600 nationals from Asian countries including - Thailand and Indonesia and from the Middle East.

This is good news for single mother Marijke Lamont who works at a rehab centre in Thailand.

She and other members of her Thailand Whatsapp group have been in close contact with DIRCO and the embassy to get them home.

"The embassy working under the instruction of DIRCO posted an update to their Facebook page to let us know that South African Airways was sending a plane to fetch us. Obviously, everyone was so delighted.""

"We'd tried a couple of other operations to get South Africans back home but it just wasn't happening because we obviously couldn't get into the country."

"I have been working tirelessly with the embassy to gather endless information needed from over 230 people who have shown interest in this flight."

Coenie Kruger who travelled to Thailand for his 50th birthday on 14 March says he can't wait any longer.

"It's been such an emotional roller-coaster. When I found out about it, I read the statement from the South African embassy; I was completely overwhelmed by emotions." 

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