The South African government has urged all its citizens currently in the Middle East Region to contact the respective embassies accredited to their countries of residence to ensure that they are registered with and that their whereabouts are known to embassies.
Citizens are stranded in the region and are unable to return home due to the closed airspace.
The conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States (US) has caused the biggest disruption to global air transport since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thousands of flights are affected and busy hubs such as Dubai and Doha Airports have shut down.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) says it is important to note that SA’s support in these countries could be limited and that it could be assumed that face-to-face consular assistance will not be possible in an emergency, and adds that government may not be able to help you if you get into difficulty, depending on your location.
On X, DIRCO spokesperson Clayson Monyela says, “We are in touch with South Africans using various communications platforms. Our systems do work. Every country’s diplomatic mission have evacuations plans. Various interventions and options are being explored.”
Emergency numbers for #SouthAfrican nationals in the middle east. Those that have registered with our embassies have been contacted directly (for the record…even prior to the attacks. We did advise those on our databases to get out). Share these numbers & help us reach…
— Clayson Monyela (@ClaysonMonyela) March 1, 2026
-Additional reporting by Anton Snyman.
www.sabcnews.com, https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/dirco-urges-sa-citizens-in-middle-east-region-to-contact-embassies/
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