The South African government has sent its ambassador to Thailand, Darkey Ephraim Africa, to assist the country’s citizens who may be stuck in Myanmar following an earthquake that has left over a thousand people dead.

Chrispin Phiri, Spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said they accredited Africa because South Africa does not have a mission in Myanmar.

He said Myanmar is a state that they do not recognise because its government is a military junta.

He added that engaging the Myanmar government and processing the information about South Africans who may be affected by the earthquake is complicated.

“We rely on Thailand authorities to tell us anything that’s happening on that side and South Africans themselves to notify us that they are in Thailand. And if they don’t do so, it really makes it very difficult to track and trace our citizens.

“As you may have seen with the 23 South Africans who were repatriated, one of our appeals is that they must notify us when they go abroad so that we have a mechanism of knowing who is in which country. And then the mission will be able to account for them should anything arise,” Phiri said.

On Friday, an earthquake, with a 7.7 magnitude hit Myanmar and was followed by an aftershock measuring a 6.4 magnitude. On Sunday, it was reported in the media that at least 1,700 people had died, 3,400 injured and more than 300 were missing.

It is not yet clear how many South Africans have been affected.

Myanmar is located in the western portion of mainland Southeast Asia and bordered by China to the north and northeast and Thailand to the southeast, and much of the destruction was reported in Mandalay, their second-largest city.

Myanmar, officially known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, is a unitary assembly-independent presidential republic under its 2008 constitution, though it has been under military rule since a coup in 2021.

Myanmar is one of Asia’s poorest nations, owing to the effects of a civil war that erupted following a military coup in 2021.

Meanwhile, 23 South Africans who were held captive in Myanmar were repatriated back home, hours before the earthquake struck. They were forced to work in online scam centres, and their return was facilitated by Dirco and the Border Management Authority (BMA).

Before leaving South Africa last year, these men and women were lured by an employment agency to Thailand under the pretences of lucrative jobs advertised on various social media platforms, Dirco said.

“These adverts promised the victims good salaries, free accommodation, comprehensive travel expenses, and other lucrative benefits. Once in Thailand, they were transported to Myanmar against their will,”

The victims were held captive for more than four months in a cybercrime compound in Myanmar, which borders Thailand.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za