Coronavirus: South African migrants separated from families plead for help

Wednesday, 26 August 2020

South African families who were all set to emigrate to New Zealand have been separated by Covid-19, and what they say is the unwillingness of the New Zealand government to allow a crucial charter flight to land.

They came to New Zealand from South Africa for a better life, expecting their families to follow. But the chaos caused by coronavirus separated husband from wife and parent from child, leaving them in desperation and dire financial straits. George Block investigates the plight of the immigrant families torn asunder by Covid-19.

Petrus Janse van Rensburg fears his daughter is forgetting who he is.

The 29-year-old mechanic came to New Zealand in January, with a job already lined up, to escape the crime and corruption of his homeland. He expected his wife and only child to fly over to join him.

Then coronavirus hit.

For the past eight months a phone has been the only link between new Kiwi Petrus Janse van Rensburg and his young family.

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Eight months later he is living in an Airbnb in south Auckland, watching his finances evaporate.

His wife and daughter are among 185 people in South Africa booked on a charter flight organised by Maple Aviation, using a leased aircraft New Zealand authorities are now reluctant to allow into the country.

They are living out of a suitcase in Port Elizabeth after selling their houses and quitting their jobs.

Along the way the family was swindled out of thousands by a travel agent in their desperation to leave, van Rensburg said.

And, as with others trying to flee South Africa, they’ve lost places on flights at the last minute, making fruitless 2000km round trips to Johannesburg in the process.

The separation is devastating for van Rensburg, who feels he is losing his connection with his 2-year-old daughter.

“We've been living our life on video calls,” he says.

“In the beginning it was OK, but you can actually hear it and see it that she's lost interest. It’s just another video on a phone.

“I’m losing my relationship with my daughter and my wife. We didn’t ask to be apart.”

Van Rensburg and his family are far from alone in their predicament. Others are in a similar position, having come to New Zealand for work prior to coronavirus restrictions.

South African mechanic Petrus Janse van Rensburg spoke to Stuff from his south Auckland Airbnb.

“It's not just me, it’s every single parent that I’ve talked to in Auckland in the same position as me,” he said.

“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing … there are husbands asking me, ‘Should I give up and go home?’”

He and the others are under increasing financial strain and see the charter as their last hope.

“Everybody on that flight is paying – there’s money from cars that they’ve sold, money that family have gifted to them.

“We don’t have much money left.”

The families are placing their hopes in Tertius Myburgh, who runs Maple Aviation.

A pilot and fellow South African, Myburgh lives in Canada and has spent much of 2020 organising repatriation flights.

He has garnered glowing press in South Africa, where he is hailed as a “guardian angel” for his efforts flying his compatriots home amid the pandemic.

Myburgh wanted to use a leased Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767 to fly 185 people to New Zealand.

But Air Zimbabwe is a carrier with a chequered past.

In 2017, it was placed on a European Union blacklist for operational and maintenance deficiencies.

Two years later the airline was prohibited from using South African airports until it settled unpaid debts.

Maple has used the aircraft for successful repatriation missions encompassing countries including Thailand, Malaysia, China, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

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An Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200ER at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Maple Aviation wants to use a leased Air Zimbabwe aircraft to deliver 185 people to New Zealand.

Emails obtained by Stuff between Maple and the NZ Ministry of Transport show the Government was initially amenable to the leased Air Zimbabwe jet landing in New Zealand.

Myburgh wrote to ministry senior licensing adviser Ken Hopper on August 10 asking for approval to fly to New Zealand from Johannesburg via Kuala Lumpur, using the Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767.

He attached a passenger list and said he would also collect South African nationals still stuck in New Zealand, assuring Hopper no crew would leave the aircraft.

Hopper authorised the flight and raised no safety concerns about Air Zimbabwe – but said passengers would not be able to disembark.

He said it was not possible for the Government to provide the level of support and information that the South African authorities required for passengers leaving South Africa.

Kiwi border rules meant considerable work would be required to verify that passengers who were not citizens or permanent residents had the right to enter the country, Hopper said.

However, a subsequent email from South African Department of Transport senior official Mashupjwe Ntjane to Hopper showed it wanted the flight to proceed.

“This is to confirm that currently only Maple Aviation’s flight has approval to operate a repatriation flight to and from New Zealand out of South Africa,” Ntjane said.

“All other operators have not applied nor received approval. We hereby request that you facilitate the necessary steps to allow the Maple Aviation flight to continue at your earliest convenience.”

Hopper then asked Myburgh on August 19 if he could delay the flight until early September, when there might be less pressure on managed isolation facilities.

Myburgh said that was not possible due to pregnant passengers and others who urgently needed to get home, also citing current New Zealand government information stating sufficient beds were available in managed isolation facilities.

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An email five days later from Hopper to Myburgh shows the government had cooled on the idea of an Air Zimbabwe flight landing in New Zealand.

“Hello Tertius, we have discussed the flight with the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority,” Hopper wrote.

He noted Zimbabwe had an International Civil Aviation Organisation effective implementation score of 54 per cent, compared to 86 per cent for New Zealand.

“We also note Air Zimbabwe is on the EU blacklist for undisclosed ‘operational and maintenance deficiencies’.

“To accept any flight from Air Zimbabwe into New Zealand, a detailed aviation safety risk assessment of the operator would be necessary, and close engagement with the Zimbabwean regulator to understand the effectiveness of their oversight.”

Myburgh was approached for an interview but was unavailable before deadline.

Van Rensburg, who has been in close contact with Myburgh, questioned why the Ministry of Transport initially gave approval for the Air Zimbabwe Boeing to land in New Zealand, as long as no passengers disembarked, given the Government’s later safety concerns.

The Ministry of Transport was asked what changed between the granting of approval for the earlier flight and its later email raising the EU blacklisting.

Economic regulation manager Tom Forster said in a statement that unspecified information was provided by “multiple sources”, whom he would not name, directly to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), sparking an investigation.

“Any such information is treated with the utmost confidentiality.

“We can also confirm the information that was provided was investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority.”

Forster said a previous Maple Aviation “non-passenger ferry flight” to New Zealand received a 48-hour approval window on August 17, which expired two days later. No such flight ever arrived.

The Jubber family, who want to reunite in New Zealand. From left: Morgan, 12, Lee, Dillan, 9, Kelsey, 4, and Jacqui Jubber.

Flight authorisation for any Air Zimbabwe flight being chartered by Maple Aviation in the current Covid-19 environment would require agreement from the CAA and the managed isolation and quarantine system, he said.

Forster said New Zealand’s focus was currently on the small number of remaining Kiwi citizens in South Africa to use existing commercially operated Government-backed flights to return home.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade have already supported the repatriation of over 400 New Zealanders since April in this way.”

Van Rensburg said he understood Maple was exploring other options for bringing the 185 passengers to New Zealand, such as transferring to another airliner during a stopover en route.

He still has confidence Myburgh will get a plane to New Zealand, given what he describes as his honesty and transparency, plus his prior success with repatriation flights.

The Maple tickets cost 29,995 Rand ($2719 NZ) for each passenger.

Back in South Africa, the Jubber family of Johannesburg finds themselves in a similar position to the van Rensburgs.

Lee Jubber came to New Zealand in January, with his wife Jacqui and three young children soon to follow.

After Covid-19 hit, their Qantas and Emirates flights were cancelled. They are yet to see refunds.

Immigration New Zealand granted Jacqui and her three children travel exemptions through the critical purpose variation of condition process due to Covid-19, she said.

“We sold our house, our cars, everything, and then luckily I got the border exemption granted [on] July 26.

“The chartered flights are our only lifeline. Our lives are at stake here … how much more must we suffer?”

Van Rensburg said he had a simple message for the New Zealand Government.

“Please help us,” he said.

“Every day that goes by that a decision’s not made by the New Zealand Government is a day that we’ve lost with our families, a day that we’ve lost with our children.”