Concern for EL teacher held in China
Nineteen-year-old East Londoner Tristan-Lee Niemand has been held in a Chinese detention centre for almost a month, and has yet to see anyone from the South African government.
She is one of 48 South Africans being held in China, mostly over the state of their visas, the department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) told the Dispatch on Monday night.
Tristan-Lee, who had never left SA before boarding a plane to China, landing there on October 14, was arrested for having the incorrect visa to teach English in the Chinese city of Nanjing.
Dirco spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya said the department had been informed by Chinese authorities about her detention.
On Monday Mabaya confirmed that two South African teachers were being detained in Nanjing but neither had yet been visited by SA officials.
He said the embassy would only make contact with the teachers at their bail application in court next week.
Mabaya said a South African official had been sent to Nanjing shortly after the arrests to discuss the issue with Chinese authorities, but had not seen the detainees.
Mabaya said the embassy was in constant contact with the Chinese authorities and would be supporting the South Africans at their bail hearing.
He said there were 48 South African citizens detained across China for being in the country on the wrong visa.
He said these high numbers and the size of China meant the embassy could not constantly visit everyone. He insisted that they remained in contact with the families and made sure the embassy was in court with the South Africans to ensure that they were treated fairly.
Stacey-Lee Niemand, the young woman’s mother, told the Daily Dispatch her daughter had only been teaching for 11 days and had not received her first paycheck when she was arrested.
The worried mom said she had received “absolutely nothing” in the way of help from Dirco or the consulate in China. She had heard no thing from the Chinese government.
Emails, which the Daily Dispatch has seen, between the mother and Dirco were bland. One stated: “Kindly be informed that our consulate general in Shanghai responded and they informed us that the case is still under investigation and there are no new developments.”
Niemand still does not know, officially, why her daughter is being detained or when she could be released.
She said that a friend of Tristan’s, legally residing in China, was taking money to the detention centre on a weekly basis in the hope that it was being passed over to Tristan to buy toiletries and food if necessary.
Said the mother: “I just want to know if she is OK. Apparently they are being detained to give evidence against the companies [who illegally brought the teachers into China on the wrong visas],” said Niemand.
Mabaya said many South Africans did not go through the embassy when going to work in foreign countries with disastrous consequences. Many South Africans were being detained in China for being there on the incorrect visa.