Zimbabweans betrayed by UK Home Office

Zimbabweans betrayed by UK Home Office

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• 2 Zim hunger strikers hospitalised

• Ex-Warriors star still detained in UK

• Judge's fury as woman deported in error

• MP urges British Airways to reject asylum flights

• Britain halts Zimbabwe deportations

• Blair slams door on Zimbabwe asylum seekers

• UK ministers revolt over Zim asylum seekers

• Wedding stings that ends with one way ticket to Zim

• Zim asylum seekers go on hunger strike

• Double tragedy for UK asylum deportee

• A 'Gestapo' welcome for Zimbabwe's UK deportees

By Ezra Tshisa Sibanda

SOMEWHERE in London, Zimbabweans who fled the tyranny of Robert Mugabe have continued to experience more human rights abuses under the British Immigration system.

After touring some of the detention centres across the UK I discovered the so called failed asylum seekers are in great distress having been assaulted, harassed, threatened and abused by the security officers manning the centres.

Having run away from the evil regime of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabweans who came here to seek shelter and protection find themselves enduring more human rights violations.

Most of Zimbabweans are law abiding citizens, they came and claimed refugee status because they did not want to live illegally and hide like other nationalities. When they came forward they were denied status and told to be reporting regularly at police stations, which they have been doing. This proved that they are honest people, who need to be trusted and are in this country for a good cause. The Home Office took advantage of these people to net and detain them, without any apparent reason.

Some Zimbabweans were granted refugee status, including members of Mugabe’s intelligence services and ruling party supporters, but why deny others? How do you prove a genuine and bogus asylum seeker when all these people come from the same country which was declared not a safe destination by the United Nations, a country where abductions, torture, rape, murder, intimidation and harassment are the order of the day? Why discriminate?

If the British Home Office thinks there are no human rights violations in Zimbabwe, then they should not give all Zimbabweans sanctuary. The government of Zimbabwe has engaged in widespread, systematic and planned campaigns of organised violence, torture and murder to suppress normal democratic activities since Independence, you don’t need a rocket scientist to prove that.

I fail to understand why every Zimbabwean coming to the UK fleeing persecution should only be an MDC member and should know all of the party's leadership to be granted refugee status.

After studying and checking most of the refusal letters of the so called failed asylum seekers it’s all to do with failing to name MDC officials, not the problems each individual experienced before fleeing the country. I could not believe when I saw in one of the refusal letters of the detained people that she failed to name the MDC MP for Mutare Central or how many votes he got and which candidate he beat. This poor girl comes from Silobela in Midlands, surely these are stupid questions. Because she didn't know, she had to guess wrongly and was denied status despite answering correctly almost 90% of the questions she was asked about the MDC not Zimbabwe. It’s like asking a 22-year-old Liberal Democrats voter from Newcastle who the MP for Swansea in South Wales is! It’s an unfair question.

Some were denied refugee status because they didn’t know the difference between a supporter and member! Crackers! I am also appalled that the MDC, the only British recognised opposition party in Zimbabwe, is silent about the deportations knowing exactly how bad the situation is back home. The party cannot even lobby or issue a statement to the British government to stop deporting Zimbabweans.

I did ask some of the House of Commons MPs (and one would expect they should know) some simple questions about daily politics in this country and almost all of them didn’t know. Some could not name the candidates they beat in the last general election and by what margins, surely you expect poor Zimbabweans who are not even high profile people in politics to know everything about one opposition political party in Zimbabwe? Do they really expect a villager in Murambinda to memorise the name of the MDC MPs from Gwanda to Makonde?

"I fail to understand why every Zimbabwean coming to the UK fleeing persecution should only be an MDC member and should know all of the party's leadership"

EZRA SIBANDA

And is the MDC the only party, or group, in Zimbabwe to oppose Mugabe's policies? What about others political parties, political lobby groups, human rights activists, journalists, church leaders and individuals who have been victimised and targeted for opposing the regime since independence? The MDC was formed in 1999, 19 years after Independence, so is the argument that there has never been any violence, rape, torture and killings prior to MDC's formation? Think of the Matabeleland and Midlands massacres of the early 80's where over 30 000 people were viciously and brutally slaughtered whilst the world watched? Some of the people denied or refused status are the descendents and victims of that generation which is still shocked and traumatised about the genocide. These are the people who could not acquire passports or visas in Zimbabwe, bought documents from neighbouring countries like Malawi, Botswana and South Africa as a getaway to flee the evil regime and seek shelter in countries like UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and USA.

The genocide in Matabeleland and Midlands, the only regions in Zimbabwe never to have fully accepted Mugabe since independence left them isolated, victimised and with no access to proper documents hence the use of neighbouring countries' documents.

Anyway, that’s besides the argument, any person running away from death has no time to go through the process of passports and visas as the person wants to quickly get away from the situation before being captured. Surely the bogus asylum seekers, if there are any, are those who had all the time to apply for passports, apply for visas and book the flight from Harare to UK. Surely what were the persecutors doing while these individuals were waiting for the papers to be processed? Will they just let the enemy of the state to board an Air Zimbabwe flight to safety?

I believe it’s time for the British Home Office to think carefully about this situation as they did with other nationalities who came to this country using ferries, without documents and were granted sanctuary. The Home Office's stance to deny suffering people because they used other countries' passport should change as long as they have proof that the individuals are Zimbabweans.

On August 4 next month, Justice Collins, sitting at the High Court, will decide the fate of the so called failed asylum seekers. Five test cases will be tried and the good and learned judge who has been in most of African countries and knows about the dictators in Africa suspended deportations until the August 4 outcome. He asked people to provide evidence of how the situation is like back home and also the fate of those who were deported, but how can people in UK provide evidence? l feel that’s where the MDC should come in, help locate and investigate the whereabouts of people who were deported whether they are safe or are missing for real as was reported in some quarters. It’s impossible to get evidence when there is an information blackout, independent media and international journalists banned. Because of all repressive legislation and unjust laws such as the Public Order and Security Act, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Broadcasting Act, unlawful arrest and detention is the order of the day and you simply cannot collect that evidence.

If it was not for Labour MP for Vauxhall, Kate Hoey, who risked two years in prison or possible death by secretly sneaking into Zimbabwe with some British TV journalists, the world wouldn’t be having the slightest idea how bad the situation is. Her visit to Zimbabwe at least highlighted to the world how the country we love and its people continue to suffer under the evil tyrant Robert Mugabe. What people saw on British television is just a tip of the iceberg.

There are places in Zimbabwe where the regime continues with its culture of rape, killing and torture, instilling fear to the defenceless poor Zimbabweans. People are starving, people are dying and the world as always is not aware. The country is on its knees, the economy is shattered, the people are voiceless and anytime the former breadbasket of Africa could collapse and be history.

In the face of mounting evidence of Mugabe’s brutality, I keep asking why the Home Office is punishing Zimbabweans. Why refuse them employment? The UK could save millions of pounds in the taxpayer's money if they allowed Zimbabweans to work and fend for themselves.

Estimates say the cost of keeping one person per day in detention, is close to a thousand pounds per day. This is ridiculous! Zimbabweans in the UK will not ask for a penny from the British government, what they need is to work, pay tax to British government and help their suffering poor families in Zimbabwe!

Ezra Tshisa Sibanda is a former producer/presenter for both TV and radio at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. Now based in London, he helps various organisations researching on African issues and hosts a radio talk show on Afro Sounds FM every Thursday night
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