Embassy official calls SA musicians stranded in Turkey 'entitled crybabies’

Running out of money, afraid they will be turfed out of their accommodation and missing their families, South African musicians stuck in Turkey were horrified when an SA embassy staff member responded to their appeal for help by calling them entitled crybabies.

The group of 29, seven of them from Nelson Mandela Bay, say they can no longer sustain themselves — especially those whose contracts ended in March.

That group was meant to fly home and had tickets in hand when flights were grounded due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The artists, based in Antalya, say their work visas expired at the end of March when their one-year contract with a Turkish entertainment company ended.

The group has been in communication with the South African Embassy in Turkey for the past month, asking to be repatriated, but nothing has happened.

In screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation between the musicians and embassy representative Onassis Tloubatla, seen by The Herald, , Bay musician Sizwe Yaze, 31, who expressed dissatisfaction with the embassy’s response, was called a crybaby. 

Tloubatla went on a rant, saying the youngsters were wrong to find fault with the embassy.

“Stop being a cry baby,” Tloubatla told Yaze.

“Some people back at home where you come from are without water, electricity, are living in squalor conditions etc, yet you got the opportunity to find yourself in an airplane which many can only dream of, fly over 7,000km, enjoy the tourist attraction city of Antalya, enjoying the beaches of the Mediterranean sea.

“Now that all is not well, you find every fault in the embassy during these difficult times of our lives.

“It cannot be correct,” part of the lengthy message reads.

Department of international relations and co-operation spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said the department would investigate Tloubatla’s conduct.

Tloubatla’s message to the youngsters said the embassy was dealing with various problems affecting South Africans in Turkey including deaths. 

“We cannot focus on you only. Our own families are also affected.

“So please stop this entitlement mentality,” the message said. 

Horrified by the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Turkey — and watching as South Africans in other parts of the world were repatriated — the artists said the wait for help was becoming excruciating. 

Singer Ntlantla Swana, 24, said the group had not been pestering the embassy but had been asking why it was taking so long for them to be brought home when others stranded across the globe were receiving help. 

“We were all shocked by the response because we are in a foreign country and our embassy should be our home away from home,” Swana said.

“The number [of infections] in Turkey is skyrocketing and we’re all in one house so if any one of us happens to be infected, we’re all in trouble.

“I think it would be better to take home 29 healthy bodies than dead bodies.”

The group members travelled to Turkey in 2019 and were meant to return at the beginning of  last month.

With no income and depending on their former employer for accommodation, they  said they feared they would soon be without a roof over their heads if the company could no longer accommodate them.

“We couldn’t get full salaries for March because everything was cancelled, and we’ve had to buy our own food and sustain ourselves because the company we were working for said it can no longer help.

“Now we’re seeing the reality of it all — that if the company can no longer help [us] with food now, it might be accommodation next,” Swana said last week, adding that food had previously been provided by the company but this had come to an end.  

When the artists asked the embassy to help them with food, Tloubatla said the embassy did not not have the means to help. 

However, Swana said  on Sunday that the embassy had finally delivered some food.

Out of desperation, the musicians recorded a video, asking for intervention, and uploaded it on social media.

“We have waited and waited and all the embassy has been telling us is that they are trying but nothing has happened.

“When we received the response they gave us, we were all shocked and we got the impression that we then have to figure it out for ourselves,” Swana said. 

Another Bay artist, Siyasanga Koyo, 33, said they were disappointed at the way Tloubatla had addressed them. 

“We don’t understand why they [embassy officials] would treat us this way when they are the exact people who should be assisting us.

“All we want is to go home,” Koyo said.

“We just want to go home because we don’t know when this pandemic will end.

“It’s safer for us to be at home than on foreign land.”

Tloubatla said he was not permitted to speak to the media and referred all questions to Ngqengelele. 

Ngqengelele said regardless of the circumstances, government officials were expected to treat members of the public with respect.

“The department is aware of the matter and will be looking into it.

“If the staff member is found to have transgressed any code of conduct, necessary action will be taken,” Ngqengelele said. 

He said the department was liaising with the embassy and the Turkish government to find ways to repatriate South Africans stuck in Turkey.

“Our command centre is liaising with the embassy to find ways of bringing home South Africans who are stuck in different countries across the world, but some negotiations have been easier than others.

“We are aware of the expired documentation [visas] and are in talks with the Turkish government about our people who are there,” he said. 

Figures on Sunday indicated that 124,375 people in Turkey had contracted Covid-19, with 3,336 deaths recorded.