The family of a South African student, Alfa Mpatsheni who went missing more than a month ago in China has been informed that their relative is alive but now in jail.

According to Mpetsheni’s father, Thulani, South Africa’s department of international and corporation (Dirco) informed the family through the country’s consulate general in Shanghai that their son was alive.

It has emerged that he had been detained by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.

“We are told that the consulate spoke to him, but he was not allowed to say on what charges he was detained on …,” his father told TimesLIVE.

The 25-year-old is a university student at Zhejiang Gongshang University in Hangzhou. His family was alerted to his disappearance by friends. He was supposed to have gone with them on a holiday to Bangkok, Thailand.

Thulani said the confirmation that his son is alive is a relief, but has also  raised new  questions.

“We are relieved at the news, which is a promise of life, but we cannot be too certain that it’s indeed him when we have not spoken to or seen him.

“A lot of things are going through our minds, we have so many un-answered questions because we’ve been hearing too many stories,” said Thulani.

Despite the long list of questions the family might have, Thulani said he was  relieved that his son had not contracted the coronavirus, which was one of their biggest fears.

The virus has killed over 1,000 people to date.

“We are grateful to everyone for everything, but we ask that people continue praying for his health as well,” he said.

Thulani said Alfa’s mother was distraught over not knowing her son’s whereabouts and sometimes struggled to sleep.

Now the family awaits communication from Chinese authorities on their son’s fate.

“Dirco stated that the consulate will be requesting permission to visit him on a date to be determined by the Chinese authorities,” he said.

Dirco spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said: “We do not speak to the media on matters involving individuals that are abroad. We communicate all the information we have to the family who can then decide if they would like to share or not.”