The latest, according to a report in the Sunday Times today, is the consul general in Los Angeles, Thandile Sunduza, who is alleged to have rejected more than 30 properties offered to her by her own department, the department of international relations and co-operation (DIRCO), and wants something on the elite Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. She was apparently accused of making other demands, being “uncouth” and lacking a full grasp of her job.
It is one of many such stories about staff in South African embassies, especially those who are not career diplomats but have been given or, according to a recent letter to DIRCO, bought the job. During the Jacob Zuma years, cadres, sometimes failed politicians or people who allegedly had some dirt on Zuma, were sent out to fill the highest posts of ambassador.
The DIRCO Minister Naledi Pandor, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, is now left with the fallout, embassies that for a decade have not only been dysfunctional but often don’t have a boss. SAPeople, in dealing with the issues of South Africans abroad, has on numerous occasions tried to get information out of embassies, many times without success, or, in the case of the high commissioner in London, Nomatemba Tambo, a curt message saying “I’m afraid I don’t intend to engage in an ongoing dialogue on such issues.” These are civil servants, mind you, paid for by citizens’ taxes.

The Sunday Times report will come as little surprise to South Africans living in the LA area who have been struggling for months to elicit any response or support from the SA Consulate despite continued phone calls, emails and even visits to the office.
For one South African, whose passport expired at the end of September 2020, he has been battling to hear back since January when he submitted his renewal application. (Sunduza has apparently been in the LA post since around February.)
“Due to Covid, I expected a delay, but I haven’t been able to get in touch with anybody at the Consulate for months,” he told SAPeople in August. In mid-September he was finally sent a letter stating that consulate members were working remotely and requesting patience. The letter was “not reassuring”, didn’t address his renewal, and gave no indication of when services would be properly administered again.
“I called the person who sent the letter, using the phone number in his signature of the letter, and surprisingly he answered. He was working from home, but unfortunately didn’t have any additional information.”
In a subsequent call he was informed that “they are still working from home and they have no idea when they will receive diplomatic bags with renewed passports. In the meantime my passport has expired which leaves me in limbo. I just can’t believe they don’t have a simpler system to streamline these kind of things.”
Today he told SAPeople: “Still waiting unfortunately. I did email them last week at the Consulate and they told me that they are still working remotely but that they have been receiving diplomatic bags with documents. I guess I’ll just continue to wait. They said to email Home Affairs in South Africa for any further updates which I did twice with no response.”
A South African in Seattle shared her similar frustrating experience with SAPeople, with no luck receiving a response from the LA consulate, her nearest foreign mission. “I’ve tried calling several times when the office is reported to be open by their website (9am-12pm) and either get cut off or it goes to voice mail that never gets a response. I’ve also re-sent my questions by email and haven’t had a response.
“It’s frustrating because we South Africans are entitled to a passport and mine has now expired (in early August). I can’t even access a list of instructions for how to apply for a new passport â€` from the LA consulate website.”
The desperate South African in Seattle finally found a list of requirements for renewing her passport on the Washington D.C. website, and submitted her new passport application and payment to the LA office. According to UPS, her package was successfully delivered… but she has still not heard anything from the Consulate.
She told SAPeople today: “Ten years ago when I last made a passport application, the LA office was helpful and answered emails with questions almost immediately. They also previously let me know when passport application materials were received and that they were all in order.”
Expats in the United Kingdom are suffering the same headaches, where the website has been down since mid-August, phone calls lead to a “dead end”, and emails are ignored. Many South Africans are asking if the way they are being treated by the very people who have been appointed to support them, is even legal.
The high commissioner, Nomatemba Tambo, briefly answered SAPeople questions on behalf of South Africans in the UK in August, but when we followed up for clearer answers, she sent a curt message, “I’m afraid I don’t intend to engage in an ongoing dialogue on such issues.” She added that “whatever operational inconveniences our nationals are experiencing will be resolved in due course as I stated yesterday.” That was on 20 August. Two months later, and the problems seem to be increasing, judging by the cries for help we receive daily from South Africans in the UK who cannot get hold of their embassy. (In the past week we have again written to Ms Tambo and her office several times, in search of answers for these South Africans. She has not replied.)
No longer able to download application forms, South Africans in the UK have to send postal requests for

the forms to be sent to them. The SAHC states the forms will be sent within 5 business days, but many are still waiting after a month. One expat in London told SAPeople: “It appears SAHC have effectively stopped servicing SA citizens in the U.K. and I wonder if there is not some breach of law or responsibility in this regard that can be investigated?”
DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Adrian Roos, said in a recent podcast for South Africans abroad that he will raise the urgent matter in Parliament of the UK website being down.
Across the world, almost guaranteed problems await any South African citizen wanting to get a passport. Inaction or inefficiency from Home Affairs and DIRCO belies the fact that South Africa has plenty of embassies and representatives in over 100 countries (117 heads of delegation, according to the DIRCO website, 14 of which are vacant).
Delays for passports and other documents last for up to six months, sometimes over a year, due mainly to an archaic system, which in many cases is run inefficiently, in which applications are sent in diplomatic bags to DIRCO in South Africa, before being sent to Home Affairs to process… and then returned to DIRCO to send back to overseas missions. (Roos points out that so much time could be saved by the larger missions offering online applications, similar to the procedure within SA.)
As many as 70 percent of South Africa’s heads of mission are apparently political appointments, often with no training to run an embassy abroad. As recently as this year former human settlements minister Nomaindia Mfeketo was appointed ambassador to the United States.
South Africa’s former ambassador to the Netherlands, Bruce Koloane, was recalled last year (and then resigned) after he gave evidence at the state capture enquiry about his involvement in the controversial Gupta plane landing at Waterkloof Air Force Base in 2015.
In 2016 Sibisiso Ndebele was recalled as high commissioner in Australia because of allegedly getting R10 million in kickbacks from tenders when he was a minister. The charges were withdrawn in 2018 and he is now high commissioner in India.
In the same year (2016), SA was embarrassed by the revelation that its high commissioner to Singapore â€` Hazel Francis Ngubeni (55) â€` had withheld the fact that she was jailed in New York for a couple of years for smuggling cocaine. In Singapore drug trafficking can lead to the death penalty. Ngubeni, who was formerly an SAA air stewardess, was jailed between 1999 and 2001… but omitted to disclose the conviction when nominated for her role in Singapore in 2013. DIRCO subsequently withdrew her security clearance and her employment contract was terminated.
Zindzi Mandela, the late daughter of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, and former ambassador to Denmark, was often in the news for undiplomatic statements, most notably her apparent support for the Economic Freedom Fighters.
In October Peter Fabricius reported in Daily Maverick that South Africa’s deputy ambassador to Sudan, Zabantu Ngcobo, and her partner were being investigated for allegedly hiring the embassy driver and his accomplice to kill the intelligence officer because he was sending home damaging reports about Ngcobo.
SA ambassadors are reportedly paid a minimum annual salary of R1-million, excluding living allowances, free accommodation and other perks that can double that amount, according to BusinessInsider.
Sunduza, a former ANC MP with a degree in sports from the Vaal University of Technology, worked for the Gauteng Department of Health and its Department of Sports. She made headlines in 2014 when she wore a tight canary-yellow dress to the opening of parliament that elicited many negative remarks on social media, and she burnt the dress, according to City Press, in 2015, saying “That dress was a flop and it was the designer’s fault.” (The Mail & Guardian called her dress one of 8 Things that Broke the Internet in 2014.)
Faced with the mounting problems and glaring issues at many foreign missions, in June President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into a law the Foreign Service Act, which “provides for the minimum requirements a person must meet to qualify for transfer to a South African Mission (and) regulates the appointment of Heads of Mission and the requirements that such persons should have in order to be appointed.”
In October, the DA called on DIRCO to refer to the Zondo Commission into State Capture allegations contained in a letter from diplomats Francis Moloi and Nyameko Goso, dated 9 October 2020, which alleged that the ranks of ambassadors, diplomats and senior officials were filled with cadres and political appointments who were forced to make donations to the ANC from the moment of appointment.
In the meantime, SAPeople has launched a petition to help South Africans abroad receive a more efficient service. After our repeated requests to DIRCO and Home Affairs officials fell on deaf or deliberately blocked ears, SAPeople teamed up with the DA, who will be able to raise the concerns in Parliament and effect urgent changes. The petition already has over 8,000 signatures. It requires 20,000 in order to be debated in Parliament. Previous petitions have had no impact because they did not receive enough signatures, so it is vital that this petition reaches its target.
www.samigration.com V.3308

One of the highlighted topics: Critical Skills Visa.

- Key Insight: Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast track to working in South Afr...
- This matter relates to critical skills visa and its broader implications.
- Individuals are advised to seek professional guidance.

Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast trac V.6139
Click here for full article

One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

-The Pretoria High Court found that the department of home affairs had violated constitutional rights without due process.
-Only half of Lawyers for Human Rights` test group has been unblocked, while 385 000 identities remain blocked nationwide.
-LHR appeals extension, urges affected people to seek help now.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

 V.6133
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6128
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6129
Click here for full article

A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

 V.6130
Click here for full article

On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

 V.6131
Click here for full article

The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
The United States’ decision to introduce a 250 dollars `visa integrity fee` on international visitors has triggered sharp criticism from the global tourism industry, with officials warning that the measure could deter millions of travellers and cost the U.S. economy billions.
The 250dollar `visa integrity fee,` part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, will take effect later this year. According to immigration law firm Envoy Global, it applies to all nonimmigrant visa holders which include students, tourists, temporary workers, and business visitors particularly from African countries. V.6132
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6127
Click here for full article

1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
Click here for full article

Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
Click here for full article