Ten South Africans are being held in custody in China, after they were arrested on at the Erdos airport while travelling to Inner Mongolia on Friday. Gift of the Givers said the South African’s were travelling with a group of Britons and an Indian national to explore ancient China. It was only on Sunday that news of their arrest surfaced. No reasons have been given for their arrest.

“They were detained without charge with no access to any communication or to legal representation. It was only on Sunday, 48 hours later, when the tour operator realised that something was amiss and made the trip to Erdos that the first information on the detained citizens came to light,” said Gift of the Giver’s founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman.

Family members till now, four days later, have had no communication with those detained.

It’s been suspected the travellers are linked to a terror group, a claim which Sooliman denied. Ironically, one of the arrested is an MK veteran of the Luthuli detachment who spent 27 years in exile.

DIRCO was contacted on Sunday and immediately consular services were provided both in South Africa and China. A team from the South African Embassy and the British Embassy met with the Chinese Foreign Ministry officials on Tuesday morning.

“The Chinese have now agreed to release 11 out of the 20 but they will remain in detention without being charged until flights can be found for them out of China. At present 17 July is the earliest. The other nine are being held without charge at a detention centre on the accusation that they were watching propaganda videos. They are five South Africans, three Britons and one Indian national,”Sooliman explained.

Of the five South Africans being held, three including the MK member are direct relatives of Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom. Salim Aziz Joosub, Shameel’s brother, is CEO of Capital and Financial Brokers.

Ironically, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa is on a state visit to China, while the South African’s remain in detention.

The Department of International Relations is trying to establish why the group were arrested.

“We will make sure that the interests of our citizens are protected and that we liaise with the authorities in China as to the next step,” said Dirco spokesperson Nelson Kwgete.

The families have called upon the Chinese government to release the detainees immediately.

“These individuals have no terror links and no criminal record in their country,” said Sooliman.

Amongst those detained are Dr Feroz Suliman, a general surgeon at Waterfall Hospital, and his wife, Dr Shehnaaz Mohamed, also a medical doctor. VOC