Cape Town — The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said any South African who has the chance to work abroad should be familiar with authorities to avoid a situation where they are stranded in foreign countries.
This comes after three South African women were stuck in Oman in the Middle East after their employers had reportedly confiscated crucial documents, including passport and their identity document (ID) books, The Citizen reported.
Department spokesperson, Clayson Monyela, said the department would try to assist two of the women through its embassy in Saudi Arabia, as South Africa does not have an office in Oman.
“We are trying our best to address this crisis, but it is not easy because we do not have a representative. We have so many cases like these in different countries whereby our people are stuck after things go wrong with the jobs they were promised,” Monyela said.
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He said many South Africans fall victim to scammers while others get legitimate jobs but quickly become unemployed. One of the women, who remained anonymous, said her employers took her documents after she complained that her salary had not been paid for six months.
The 31-year-old, who has been teaching English in Oman, said her life was in limbo as her employer was demanding R60 000 to return her documents.
“The owner of the school failed to pay my salary for six months and I reported the matter to the authorities. A few days later I resigned and on 23 November I was kicked out of the house,” said the irate woman.
She revealed that her laptop, phone and personal documents were seized and her efforts to get her documents back have all been in vain.
In December last year, DIRCO helped a woman who was stranded in the UAE after she had resigned from her job. She revealed that she stayed behind on a residency visa, which was cancelled after she was unable to find a new job. Monyela said the woman required help to pay off her loan as consular assistance was non-financial.
Patriots please let’s help our own she’s stuck in the UAE she’s been to the consulate but no luck and she needs to comeback home and start a job in January pic.twitter.com/WlNEEPX9JC
— Abahambe Abdul Majola🇿🇦🇷🇺 (@LadyAbahambe) December 19, 2024
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
