RIYADH, 31 January 2008 — A South African nurse, who has been missing from Riyadh since November, has called her family from an undisclosed location in the Kingdom where she is supposedly being held.
Dannelene Noach, 54, who had been working at a hospital in Riyadh for around seven years, went missing last year after blowing the whistle on alleged irregularities at the hospital where she worked.
“We have requested for a meeting with Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman through the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the case of the missing nurse...Our Ambassador John Davis will meet with the governor,” said Duke Kent-Brown, deputy chief of the South African Embassy.
He added that the South African Embassy has no knowledge of the nurse’s whereabouts. “We are using the diplomatic channel to solve the problem and once the missing nurse is traced, we will seek consular access,” he added.
Noach’s family is desperate to locate her and say she disappeared from Riyadh a couple of days after speaking to her daughter, Lee-Ann Noach-Pienaar, on Nov. 20.
According to a report, Noach, who worked as a clinical coordinator, was asked in May last year to conduct an audit for her department, which eventually led to the discovery of financial discrepancies.
As soon as she submitted her report, she was suspended from her job without pay for alleged dabbling in black magic.
Noach took the matter to Saudi government officials and human rights organizations.
She later filed a case and challenged her unfair suspension in a local court. The judge ruled in her favor but had to go on emergency leave on Nov. 20, when the final hearing of the case was to be made.
Noach’s 55-year-old husband, Wilfred, a construction foreman, is planning to visit Riyadh to find his wife.
Around 10,000 South African nationals live and work in the Kingdom, mainly in the health sector.
