DURBAN - DOZENS of South African families have been living apart for more than a year after initiating immigration procedures to live in New Zealand.
When the families started the immigration process, the Covid-19 pandemic had not yet affected South Africa or New Zealand. But as South Africa went into lockdown last March, New Zealand also closed its borders.
For Richards Bay couple Darryn and Christene Mitchell, an attempted hijacking late in 2019 was what pushed them to look abroad for a safer life for their family in New Zealand.
“Darryn left on 1 January 2020. We were supposed to follow after he secured employment and checked that the place was a good fit for our family. I resigned from my dream job, got our visas ready and packed up our belongings and sold most of it,” Christene said.
Christene and her two children, Christiaan, 7, and Abigail, 3, were planning to leave in May last year but decided to go sooner, in March, as the pandemic became more serious but then the borders closed.
“If we knew what would happen we would have done it together.”
Christine, who is living with her parents after she sold their vehicles and furniture, said their family had taken emotional strain. Darryn had applied for an exemption for his family to be allowed into New Zealand, but it
has not been granted.
Durbanite Andre Victor and her husband Earl have had a similar experience. The Durban couple chose to immigrate for better work opportunities and a safer life for their daughter, Leah. “Earl left on 7 October 2019. He is in the engineering and construction field and quickly got a good job,” Andre said.
“We were to follow once he had completed his three month probation. We were ready to apply for our visas, and had our medical tests scheduled for March 2020, but because of the lockdown it was postponed to the end of July,” she said.
“It's so sad. We thought everything was fine, but it's been more than a year
without him. When we see entertainers going through and we can't, it's too upsetting. Leah is devastated.”
Andre sold everything they owned and is living out of suitcases with her parents. “Our lives have been turned upside down. He is financing a home in New Zealand and us here and it’s so hard.”
Pietermaritzburg’s Jacqui Cook said her husband, Richard, an electronic security technician, left on February 26, 2020.
The couple planned to move before their children, Joshua, 17, and Jorja, 13, left home to study and wanted to keep their family together.
She said they submitted their visa applications in March 2020 but have
heard nothing since.
Jacqui said Richard was sitting in New Zealand with a fully furnished three-bedroom home, while she and her children were living with her mother-in-law, which was to have been a temporary arrangement.
Katy Armstrong, a New Zealand licensed immigration adviser, said she was disappointed that migrant workers were being separated from their families while the borders remained closed.
“We can’t reunite families, yet we have been letting in big name entertainers. It’s the opposite of the world’s view of us and this is a mark on our image of a perfect Covid response because the reality on the ground is we are sitting with a humanitarian crisis,” she said.
Kirsty Hutchison, Manager Immigration (Border and Funding) Policy at the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said: “The New Zealand government decided to close the border to everyone but New Zealand citizens and residents last year in order to keep Covid-19 out and keep New Zealand safe.
“Since then, the government has introduced a number of exceptions as circumstances permitted, taking into account the benefits to New Zealand’s economic, social and humanitarian objectives and the impacts on managed isolation and quarantine capacity. Additional exceptions will continue to be made where and when possible.”
THE MERCURY