Sunshine Coast duo Gordon and Frances Barnard stuck in South African civil unrest due to Covid-19 restrictions

A Sunshine Coast couple say they fear for their lives as they try to flee civil unrest consuming their neighbourhood to get back to Australia.

A Sunshine Coast woman fears her parents might not make it home from South Africa without substantial help to get them to safety.

Former Mountain Creek duo Gordon and Frances Barnard are stranded in KwaZulu-Natal amid growing civil tensions.

The couple have been in the country for the past six years caring for an elderly family member who died from Covid-19 in January.

The Australian citizens are now desperate to get home after fire bombing, rioting and looting erupted last week in response to the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma.

Inanda community members use light torches to clean up from debris the interior of the looted Dube Village Mall in Durban on July 17, 2021. Picture: Guillem Sartorio, AFP.

Their daughter, Mish Thurlow, said her parents were so fearful that they had resorted to driving around with their guns on their laps.

“Due to civil unrest, it is no longer safe, which has forced my parents to make the decision to flee their home and return to family in Australia,” she said.

“There has been looting and rioting in the area that they live in.

She said shops and malls had been looted, tyres had been burnt and food truck attacked.

“There has been road blockages … (and) it’s at a stage were my parents were unable to get food,” she said.

Sunshine Coast woman Mish Thurlow is hoping the community will help to bring her parents, Gordon and Frances, who are stranded in South Africa home. Picture: Contributed.

The pair are caring for Ms Thurlow’s elderly grandmother on a sugar cane farm just outside Stanger.

The 29-year-old said her parents travelled for eight hours to meet up with family to get supplies to last them for the next few weeks.

“Shortly after they had left the site of the meet up, there were petrol bombs that were thrown to the blockades,” Ms Thurlow said.

“It’s a very difficult and violent situation that they are in at the moment but they are just trying to do everything they can.”

She said her mum was “trying to hold it together” for her gran but they weren’t sleeping very often.

“They’ve got their guns ready … on their trip yesterday they had their guns with them on their laps while they were driving,” she said.

Ms Thurlow said she had been in a state of shock and left feeling helpless.

“We’re looking at everything possible to be able to get them back to Australia,” she said.

“They are really scared … at the moment they’re just living day to day.”

She said her parents weren’t the only people affected.

“There’s loads of families who are going through this traumatic experience and we can only do what we can do,” she said.

Due to the pandemic, Mr Barnard, 59, and Ms Barnard, 57, have been left with few options to return to Australia.

Flights from South Africa to Australia are set to resume in August with only first class and business options available.

The family has started a GoFundMe to try and help get them home for good.

So far, 25 donors have contributed $8420 to the family’s plight.

“They’re not in the financial position to be able to come back here especially with the flights being the price they are due to Covid-19,” Ms Thurlow said.

“We can’t hold or book flights because we don’t have the financial support to do that yet.”

But she said she was overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness people had shown.

“I’m just hoping that reaching out and connecting with the community … hopefully we can get them back here,” she said.