Stranded SA citizens pin hopes on flight

Thirty-four South Africans who have been stranded in Morocco for seven weeks as a result of a ban on international travel due to the coronavirus pandemic are pinning their hopes on flying home with airline CemAir.

The airline has carried out a number of repatriation flights, bringing back SA citizens from Cameroon and Sudan in the past week.

It is planning a repatriation flight from Kinshasa on Thursday, followed by another flight from Luanda, Angola, the next day.

On Saturday, the airline is planning a repatriation flight that will leave Johannesburg for Nairobi, Kenya, and then Kigali, Rwanda, and return to SA the same day.

SA citizens in Morocco, who have stood by as numerous plans to fly them home using cash-strapped national carrier SAA failed to materialise, are now looking to CemAir to rescue them.

CemAir CEO Miles van der Molen told Kaya FM last week that, despite the distances involved, the airline was looking at solutions for South Africans in Morocco and in other parts of Africa’s bulge region who wanted to return.

“There are quite a few countries that have a significant number of South Africans who do not really have any way of getting home at this stage.

“The solution is being finalised but certainly a lot of work is being done,” Van der Molen said.

One of the stranded South Africans in Morocco, James de Wet, said the repatriation plan involved countries in the bulge of Africa — Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Burkino Faso, Ghana and Morocco.

De Wet said CemAir wanted to cover as many countries as possible.

“Logistics are challenging, especially crew stayovers.

“The flight planning is complicated and expensive,” De Wet said.

In an update on Sunday, the department of international relations and co-operation said it had facilitated the repatriation by air of more than 3,000 South Africans.

The department said hundreds of other SA citizens had returned by land.

On Sunday afternoon, 275 citizens who were stranded in the US arrived back home.

Others, also from the US, were expected to land today and on Saturday.

“Given the challenges we have been experiencing regarding the repatriation of our nationals, mainly from Asia and the Middle East, the department is pleased to announce that on Friday May 8 2020, about 600 South Africans from Bangkok, Thailand, [and] Bali and Jakarta will be repatriated.”

It said the majority of citizens who had been stranded in Europe and the UK had been repatriated.

The department said a further 400 South Africans were stranded in other African countries.