The South African government has advised citizens to take travel insurance when going overseas, as yet another family has come out to ask for donations from the general public in order to raise funds to repatriate their daughter from China.
Clayson Monyela, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) spokesperson said it was important for South Africans living or travelling abroad to register with the local embassies.
However, he emphasised that its not the duty of the department to repatriate the South Africans who died abroad.
“That is why we encourage people to get travel insurance when they travel. That is what the consular services’ policy says.”
Monyela said the department does not have budget to repatriate South Africans from foreign countries.
According to reports, the Mqokozo family is in desperate financial need in order to repatriate the remains of their daughter, Siphosethu Mqokozo and take her to her place of birth Lady Free in Vaalbank Eastern Cape.
The 30-year-old English teacher left in October 2019 to go and teach English in China after completing her bachelor’s degree in Education at the University of Johannesburg.
Her sister Lubabalo Mqokozo said she last spoke to Siphosethu last week Wednesday.
She was surprised on Thursday when she received a call from the school informing her that her younger sister had passed away on her way to hospital after having a panic attack.
In another case 27-year-old Lusanda Sixaxeni, moved to China as an English teacher in 2019 after she graduated from Nelson Mandela University.
She suddenly fell ill just a week before she was supposed to head home. In Mossel Bay in the Western Cape. She was taken to Beijing hospital, where she passed away on 12 September.
The Sixaxeni family needs R400 000 to be able to bring her back to South Africa. The Mqokozo family is in the same boat and now needs R300 000 to transport her body back home.
Source: News24, The South African, image from Twitter: @hellobonitta
