Covid keeps immigrating families apart By Lorna Charles Share DURBAN - DOZENS of South African families have been living apart for more than a year after initiating immigration procedures to live in New Zealand. When the families started the immigration process, the Covid-19 pandemic had not yet affected South Africa or New Zealand. But as South Africa went into lockdown last March, New Zealand also closed its borders. For Richards Bay couple Darryn and Christene Mitchell, an attempted hijacking late in 2019 was what pushed them to look abroad for a safer life for their family in New Zealand. “Darryn left on 1 January 2020. We were supposed to follow after he secured employment and checked that the place was a good fit for our family. I resigned from my dream job, got our visas ready and packed up our belongings and sold most of it,” Christene said.