Britain deports Zimbabwe mum and kids

Britain deports Zimbabwe mum and kids

• Britain deports Zim mum, a neighbour's account

• UK condemned over deportation of Zim asylum seekers

• UK resumes deportation of Zimbabweans

• Britain plugs Zimbabwe visa loophole

• Britain still a magnet for Zimbabweans

• 6 years for hit-and-run Zim refugee

• Zanu PF UK asylum network exposed

• Police shed more light on visa scam

• Zim man nabbed in visa scam

By Staff Reporter

A ZIMBABWEAN mum and her two kids have become the first victims of Britain's revived deportation policy of failed asylum seekers after they were seized in a dawn raid in Cardiff, Wales.

Sikhanyisile Moyo, who arrived in the UK in December 2002 from South Africa, was put on a plane back to South Africa on Wednesday afternoon, according to a Zimbabwe refugee support group.

Britain announced last week that it was resuming the deportation of Zimbabwean asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected and all appeals turned down. The deportations were suspended two years ago in reaction to the deteriorating human rights situation in the southern African country.

While acknowledging there has been no improvement in the Zimbabwe crisis, Britain says there has been an abuse of the system with foreigners coming into the UK claiming to be Zimbabwean to avoid being removed.

"I counted six heavies, and two people carrier cars with darkened windows. You’d think they were doing a dawn raid on a drugs house"

READ A NEIGHBOUR'S EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT

Sources tell New Zimbabwe.com that the first targets for removal are those who came to Britain via a "safe" destination, or those who came to Britain using foreign passports in order to beat the tight visa regime in Harare. Priority will also be placed on Zimbabweans who are in government-paid accommodation.

A neighbour who witnessed Moyo's deportation told New Zimbabwe.com: "It was a dawn raid by six immigration officers. You would have thought they were going after a rapist or drug dealer. You wouldn't have imagined their intended target was an unarmed woman and her two lovely kids."

Themba Moyo of the Zimbabwe Development Association - Wales said the Home Office had "moved like stealth" to ensure there was no time for an appeal. He said Moyo had been advised the previous day that she would get a routine visit by support officers from a government refugee support group.

"They had everything arranged beforehand," he said. "They gave her just over 30 minutes to pack before they took her away. But what we are witnessing here are the actions of a government playing their trump card to retain power.

"The fact that Sikhanyisile used a South African passport shouldn't diminish her claim for asylum because she is Zimbabwean and she wouldn't have managed to get a visa from the embassy in Harare to enable her to travel here."

Moyo's son, Mthokozisi, described by neighbours as a promising footballer and in Year 8 (Form 1) of his education, together with his 9-year-old sister who was in Year 4 (Grade 4), were also deported with their mother.

Maeve Sherlock, the chief executive of the UK-based NGO, the Refugee Council, which works with asylum seekers, has called on the British government to monitor "what happens to those who are sent back."

"No one should be sent back to Zimbabwe before monitoring procedures are in place," she said.

British Immigration Minister Des Browne told parliament last week that in the first nine months of 2004 the British government granted asylum to 195 Zimbabweans, and some form of protection to more than 25 others, out of a total of 2,025 applicants.

With a 90 percent refusal rate and the dismissal of 82 percent of subsequent appeals to the independent adjudicator, "the clear message is that the majority of Zimbabwean asylum applicants are able safely to return to Zimbabwe," he added.

However, Sherlock said, "Far too many valid applications are being turned down".
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