Nearly 100 young South Africans were detained by Chinese authorities in the second half of 2018, South Africa’s foreign ministry had confirmed. Most were accused of illegally teaching English.
One group of 51 South African nationals were recruited in the second half of 2017 by agent Owen Wong to teach children in schools across China. They arrived on student visas and were accommodated at Changchun Guanghua University for their orientation in the opening weeks of their year-long contracts.
In March, 2018, they were asked to return for training in Changchung, where they were all arrested and had their passports confiscated.
They were confined to their university dormitories and unable to leave the campus while immigration authorities launched a criminal investigation into Wong. South Africa’s Minister of International Relations Lindiwe Sisulu made efforts to intervene on their behalf.
The South Africans were finally able to leave China just before Christmas 2018, once authorities had concluded their investigation into Wong, who is now in custody. The People’ s Republic of China organised three flights to bring the teachers back home.
The 51 were among an increasing number of South Africans – most of them school-leavers still in their teens, who are being lured by agents to teaching jobs in China. The prospective teachers are told they can start work on a student visa and upgrade to a category Z work visa later.
In another case, 19-yearold South African Tristan-Lee Niemand was held in prison in the Chinese city of Nanjing for more than a month in late 2018. Recruited by an agent who cannot be traced, she was assured that she would be able to upgrade her student visa, but was arrested eleven days after reportedly starting work at Nanjing’s Sesame Street English school.
Several more South African teachers across China were released from detention and put on deportation flights in the runup to Christmas 2018.
The Chinese foreign ministry has warned South African nationals they need a work visa and a degree to teach legally in the People’s Republic.
Relations Lindiwe Sisulu
