Expat | SAFFA.com

China visa scam: SA government won’t give financial relief to stranded teachers

Posted on 20/06/2018 Leave a comment

The 50 South Africans who fell prey to a work visa scam in China will not receive any financial help from their own government. That’s according to the parents who are fighting tooth and nail to get their children home.

Sucked in by the promises of Owen Wong – a man who claimed to represent a company called Sanda Youth International – the group thought they would be taking up a position to teach English as a foreign language to local children.

They arrived in the country without a hitch, but Wong convinced the would-be teachers that he needed their passports to finalise all of their work visas.
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Moving abroad: Five steps to making your move simpler

Posted on 19/06/2018 Leave a comment

Picking the right removal company will be one of the most important decisions you make when moving abroad.

Once you have decided you are moving abroad, it is vital that one of the first steps you take towards making your move as plain-sailing as possible is to choose the right removal company.

We chatted to the experts at Stuttaford Van Lines and found out the best way to approach a big move.
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Education in China: This is what you need to know

Posted on 13/06/2018 Leave a comment

Today it is certainly not an exaggeration to say that literally thousands of South Africans gives school in Russia, the Middle East and Asia. Only in China alone there are hundreds of teachers in the one internet group of which I am the administrator, called South Africans Living In China. But it’s not without dangers and problems, as one of the members of the group recently found out. Madri Strydom was detained in Beijing for sixteen days before being deported to South Africa.

Madri was not the first South African to have been deported. Neither the first who did nothing wrong and yet the Chinese showed her the door. She will certainly not be the last.
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Voormalige Cheeta Heelagter Coenie van Wyk wil uitdraf vir Japan in WB

Posted on 08/06/2018 Leave a comment

Hy kwalifiseer net voor die 2019 Wêreldbeker-toernooi in Japan om vir dié land te speel en as die afrigtingspan dink hy is goed genoeg, speel hy graag vir sy aangenome land.

Só praat die 30-jarige heelagter Coenie van Wyk, wat die vorige twee seisoene in al die Brave Lupus se ligaverpligtinge in die Japanse Topliga gespeel het. Dié seisoen het hy in 12 uit 15 wedstryde gespeel en net een misgeloop.

Hy is een van ’n rits Suid-Afrikaners wat hul rugby in Japan speel en hy maak geen geheim daarvan nie dat hy graag vir Japan sal wil uitdraf nie.
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Onderwyseres van Alberton vir 16 dae in ’n Chinese tronk aangehou oor Visum

Posted on 06/06/2018 Leave a comment

Suid-Afrikaanse onderwyseres ’n onderwyseres virt 16 dae in ’n Chinese tronk aangehou

Hul droomervaring het in ’n nagmerrie ontaard, vertel Madri van den Heever, ’n onderwyseres van Alberton wat 16 dae in ’n Chinese tronk aangehou is.

As straf omdat sy onwettig gewerk het, sou Madri net tien dae in ’n aanhoudingsentrum deurbring, maar sy is uiteindelik 16 dae aangehou.

Sy vertel hoe sy ’n sel met sekswerkers en dwelmgebruikers moes deel en elke dag gestoomde brood “so swaar soos klippe” en waterige groente moes eet wat uit dromme geskep is. Sy is herhaaldelik ondervra, een keer terwyl haar voete aan ’n staalstoel vasgeboei is.

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#Elections2019: Overseas voter registration is open, here’s what you need to know

Posted on 05/06/2018 1 Comment

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) confirmed recently that voter registration for South Africans living abroad has opened.

Registration out of the country will take place at all Embassies, Consulates-General and High Commissions as designated on the DIRCO website.

There are a few things to consider if you’re a South African living abroad wanting to cast your vote – and here are some things to keep in mind.

If you have voted before, it is not necessary to re-register to vote abroad. You can simply check your registration status on the IEC website.
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Zimbabweans outside the country will not be allowed to vote on 30 July – How many will return for this historical event?

Posted on 04/06/2018 Leave a comment

On 30 May 2018, the Zimbabwe Constitutional Court in Shumba and others v Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs & others ruled that Zimbabweans outside the country could not participate in elections and in particular in the harmonised elections scheduled to take place on 30 July 2018, if they did not return to the country to register and vote. This finding directly violates a 2013 decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights that the prohibition on the right of Zimbabweans living abroad to vote constitutes a clear violation of the African Charter.
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Visas for South Africans: Do you need a visa to travel to Australia and what does it cost?

Posted on 21/05/2018 Leave a comment

Australia is a popular travel destination for South Africans, whether for vacationing or on a more permanent basis.

The political uncertainty of recent years saw a bit of a spike in the country’s citizens seeking to settle elsewhere, with the land Down Under getting a decent chunk of Saffers moving to its shores.

Most recently, one of former President Jacob Zuma’s bloodiest cabinet reshuffles saw Australian visa requests from South African surge by up to three times, following the axing of Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan from his previous post as Finance Minister.
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South African thespian, Pieter-Dirk Uys performs in London this May and June

Posted on 10/05/2018 1 Comment

Since 1985 satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys has performed in London (mainly at the Tricycle Theatre, sometimes at the old Donmar Warehouse and now at the Soho Theatre) around twenty times with his one-man shows; sometimes with his plays.

It’s a city that knows him well and he returns to London in June, this time without his usual armour of false eyelashes, extreme characters and their sketches which helped to deflect the poison arrows of government censorship and political correctness throughout the years of apartheid and even now in the present kleptocracy of the Rainbow Nation.
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