Home Affairs glitch lands arrested ship's crew in jail

A foreign ship relief crew spent several uncomfortable hours in a police cell as lawyers lodged a successful late-night urgent application for their release before the Western Cape High Court recently. The five Indians had arrived in South Africa, completely unaware that the bulk carrier they were about to join, the Salgaocarowned Cape Santa Milagria, had been arrested in Saldanha because its owners allegedly owed creditors more than US$60 million (R430m). On learning of events, they refused to board the vessel and received an assurance from Home Affairs they would be allowed to stay in Cape Town to finalise arrangement for their flight back to India. When they went to collect their passports at Customs the day before departure, a customs official told them he was not aware of plans to house them in Cape Town, resulting in their arrest and transfer to Sea Point police holding cells at about 11 pm on September 3. This resulted in the urgent application which only got under way at 04:00. After hearing evidence, Judge Vincent Saldanha ordered the men be released (at around 05:30), giving them just enough time to collect their passports and make it to Cape Town International Airport in time for the flight home. The immigration department was ordered to pay the legal costs of the court application. The vessel, laden with iron ore, was stopped in Saldanha over the debt issue and ordered to the No: 1 anchorage off Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard, her impressive size drawing scores of sightseers. Come week’s end and the Tuvalu-registered Cape Santa Milagria, with a skeleton crew of 27 on board, was not budging as Mother City lawyers sought instructions from the vessel’s London-based owner. Cassiem Augustus, representative of the International Transport Federation in Cape Town, says the focus, other than the money issue, should also be on the well-being of those on board and the manner in which the fivemember replacement crew was treated.