Pretoria - Patronella Treasure on Monday began her lone picket outside the British High Commission in Pretoria - and vowed to continue camping there until she was granted a visa to join her husband in Britain.
The 46-year-old from Soshanguve in Tshwane spent the day sitting on a chair with a sign on her lap as high commission staff carried on with their business. Passers-by looked on curiously and approached her to find out the reason for her picket.
Treasure showed The Star a passport and certificate confirming she was indeed married to Briton John Treasure of Slough, near London.
“Since we got married last year, I have been refused a visiting visa on five occasions with no valid reasons and without being given the right to appeal or an administration review,” she said.
For years, she travelled in and out of the UK without a glitch when she visited her then fiancé, she said.
The two met at a shopping mall in Joburg when Treasure, who was visiting South Africa, approached her in 2009 and asked for her phone number. The rest was history, she said.
After a long relationship, the pair decided to tie the knot in January last year. “Prior to getting married, I always visited him, never overstayed and always left on time,” she said.
But in 2012, while she was visiting him, she was involved in a bus accident at Heathrow Airport near London.
Treasure said she was a passenger in a bus which crashed into a taxi. She suffered severe back and shoulder injuries and was admitted to Waxham Park Hospital.
Between 2012 and 2015, she was in and out of the UK for treatment, after which she was referred to a specialist.
It was at that time, during February last year, that her application for a visa was turned down for the first time.
Treasure applied for a two-year visiting visa with multiple entries, but that was rejected. Four subsequent applications yielded no positive results.
“My constant appeals fell on deaf ears, prompting me to embark on this picket. I will not leave this spot until they assist me,” she said.
“The refusal of my application for a visa comes with a different reason each time. There is no consistency. They have decided that I am persona non grata and refused me entry into the UK.”
The high commission had yet to comment on the matter by late Monday.
Pretoria News