The case of two diplomats refusing to return home, claiming Covid-19 complications, could spur other public servants to refuse to go back to work because of comorbidities, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) has said.
The case of Suhayfa Soobedar, minister plenipotentiary in Brussels, and Titi Nxumalo, consul-general in Milan, was argued in the Labour Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday where judgment was reserved. They say travelling home now, while there is a surge in reported Covid-19 infections in Europe and in South Africa, will place them in danger.
Dirco’s lawyers, however, argued:
