South Africa’s requirement for unabridged birth certificates has made family travel to the country “virtually impossible”, Daily Maverick reports Belgian newspaper De Standaard as saying. This follows the Chairman of the Belgian Socialist Party, John Crombez, his partner Vivi Lombaerts and their nine-year-old daughter, Babette, being told by Turkish Airlines staff that they did not have the correct and necessary documents to allow them to travel as a family to South Africa.
Babette was in possession of a ‘kiddies’ passport issued by Belgian authorities, an international passport, an international birth certificate as well as sworn affidavits from both parents.
Crombez and Lombaerts had already booked and paid for a week-long stay in a Cape Town guest house as well as paid for tickets for various activities they had planned with friends. Another family, Barbara Defour, her husband and two children, were also barred from boarding the flight to South Africa.
A spokesperson for Turkish Airlines told De Standaard that the carrier turned away families travelling to South Africa daily.
A couple who were also set to travel with Crombez, told De Standaard that the family’s three seats (which had been booked alongside the couple) were occupied by other passengers who said these had been allocated to them.
