Durban — The South African government’s website in the UK is down, prompting questions about whether it has failed to pay its service provider.
A Google search for the website of the South African High Commission in London came up as “site suspended” this week.
However, the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) said this was due to the site being upgraded.
“On the issue of the website, we are resolving this with the new service provider that’s working with us to upgrade the website and it should be up and running in 24 to 72 hours. That’s the response from the deputy head of mission,” said Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela.
South Africa House on London’s Trafalgar Square is the headquarters of both the South African High Commission as well as its consulate.
However, when the url, https:// southafricahouse.uk – the official web address – is typed into the search bar, an ominous-sounding message pops up on the screen.
“This website has been suspended due to issues with the customer’s account,” it reads.
The issue first came to the attention of the Sunday Tribune on Monday when a journalist was searching for information relating to consular services in the UK and discovered that the website was down.
It was later flagged by a member of Community Circle SA, a popular Facebook group where South Africans living abroad share experiences and information about a number of issues like applying for official documents and other consular services.
The group’s administrator, Kim Milner Kur, who maintains good relations with various government departments to assist expats, responded to the issue, saying, “A few hours ago the Deputy High Commissioner in London confirmed with me that they are currently in the process of procurement for the website.”
When questioned if the South Africa House website was suspended because the government had failed to pay its account, Monyela said he was not aware of any issues relating to payment as it had not been conveyed in a response to his enquiry.
Instead, he said the websites of all South Africa’s foreign missions would be upgraded so that they were similar.
“So if you were to try and visit websites of one or two other embassies, it may be that you will find the same situation with London, where it’s either down or it tells you a website is being upgraded. We are in fact implementing a project which should be done in another month or so. So that when you visit the website of our embassy in the US or in France or in Nigeria or wherever it has the same look and feel. Of course, the content would differ depending on which country it is,” he said.
Monyela said the upgrading of websites was not unusual and that there could be problems with accessibility to the website for the duration of the project.
“That’s what we currently have in London but this is something that’s being attended to and as soon as the work is concluded the website will be up and running and people that need to use the website to get information or communicate with the mission or get services from the mission will be able to do so,” Monyela said.
A random check on websites belonging to South Africa’s foreign missions in other countries like Switzerland, Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Canada and the US showed that they were all functional.
The South Africa House website was still suspended at the time of publication.
Sunday Tribune