Flying squad escorts four buses of foreign nationals back to Lebombo Gate
A group of foreign nationals, that were intercepted at the Machado Toll Plaza outside eNtokozweni on Sunday, has since been confirmed to be Japanese volunteers who had been working in Mozambique.
The group entered the country at the Lebombo Border Gate on Sunday morning, Lowvelder reports.
According to Solange Soares, spokesperson for TRAC N4, the company was ordered by the SAPS to stop four 25-seater buses with foreign nationals at the Machado Toll Plaza until members from the Nelspruit and White River Flying Squad arrived to escort them back to Lebombo.
The convoy arrived at the border at 16:20 where further confusion unfolded. An official at the Lebombo Border Gate confirmed that the group had entered the country through that gate at around 09:00 on Sunday and had gone through passport control.
“They are in the country legally and we do not understand why they were brought back here,” the official said.
EFF members waiting for the group of foreign nationals at the Lebombo Gate said they received information about the group who entered the country and alerted authorities. At the time it was believed they may have been Chinese tourists.
According to Tomohiro Seki, chief representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency in South Africa, the rumour that the group had been denied entry into the country at OR Tambo International Airport is “absolutely not true”.
“They never landed at OR Tambo, so they were not denied entry into South Africa. They are Japanese volunteers working in Mozambique.
They tried to go back to Japan, but could not depart from Mozambique due to the suspension of all flights from Mozambique to South Africa.
So, they unavoidably had to go to OR Tambo by road.
“When they crossed the border, they could pass smoothly, and they were all subjected to temperature checks at the South African side.
“The Embassy of Japan in Pretoria had informed the South African Government through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa of the volunteers who would travel to OR Tambo.
“I cannot understand why the police stopped them and took them back to the border gate. According
to one of the volunteers, the police did not give them a chance to explain the situation,” he said.
The group has since left the country.
Read original story on lowvelder.co.za
