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International travel restrictions have left at least 1,471 South Africans stranded in foreign countries, however they were being offered assistance, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said on Tuesday.
"Of this number, 723 are students, 204 people who are workers, 224 tourists, 320 who haven't disclosed,"she was speaking at a briefing for ministers representing the COVID-19 National Command Council.
"We empathise with their plight and are doing whatever is within our means to assist them to be safe, as comfortable as possible and to travel back to South Africa," she said.
Although Pandor did not say when these repatriations would begin, she said that they were still collecting data and were expecting the number of 1,471 to increase.
She said those were stranded at airports in different countries will be prioritized.
"I have directed that priority be given to those who are stranded at the airports, running out of accommodation, the elderly and the sick," Pandor said.
Pandor appealed to South Africans who were in a position to charter private flights home to do so.
"In such cases, we have requested our Missions to assist with obtaining flight clearances for chartered flights in the host countries and to get permission to depart on such chartered flight," she said.
