An official from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation says they’re not aware of any South Africans in distress following the abortive coup last week.

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Most of the South Africans who were in Turkey when the failed coup occurred were on holiday or shopping.

They took the first available flights home when the airports reopened.

There are a sizable number of South Africans living in Turkey – many of them involved in the media which is coming under criticism by the authorities who’ve imposed a three-month state of emergency

They have been advised to stay in touch with the embassy and to exercise the greatest caution at all times.

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No new dates have been set for the exercise upended by weeks of political turmoil and an abortive coup triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s determination to go for an unconstitutional third term.

Last weekend East African leaders joined the African Union and Burundi’s donor partners in calling for a delay in elections.

It’s been left to the country’s electoral commission to name the new date for parliamentary and presidential polls.

Presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe says the new dates will take into account the recommendations of regional leaders and the requirements of the constitution.

President Pierre Nkurunziza’s acknowledgement that it’s impossible to hold free and fair elections amid the unrest, is unlikely to stop the protests against his seeking another mandate.

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They’ve also called for an end to the violence caused by the president’s determination to run for an unconstitutional third term.

President Jacob Zuma was at yesterday’s summit Dar es Salaam.

His Burundian counterpart was not.

The South African leader was there in his capacity as the mediator that help end Burundi’s civil war and effectively put Nkurunziza in power in 2005.

The Burundian president gave the gathering a miss because when he attended one last month, his return home was delayed by an abortive coup.

The East African leaders yesterday said much the same thing as they did when last they met to consider the crisis in Burundi

That is the country is not at all prepared for elections and the poll should be delayed by at least six weeks,.

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