Betrayed by Blair, they will simply go underground

Betrayed by Blair, they will simply go underground

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Voice of New Zimbawe.com

AFTER a spirited legal battle, failed Zimbabwean asylum-seekers now face the dreaded prospect of deportation.

The decision by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal dealt a cruel blow to hundreds of Zimbabweans who had lived in limbo but still harboured the hope that common sense would ultimately prevail.

The paradox of this ruling remains perplexing as it is disturbing. On the one hand, the British government has condemned President Robert Mugabe as a vile dictator persecuting his own people.

Yet on the other, Zimbabwe is deemed safe country for people who have dared claim asylum, people Mugabe himself has branded in scornful terms as low-grade sell-outs, peddling falsehoods for undeserved sanctuary.

The decision came at a rather unfortunate time. It has coincided with the unfavourable agenda of new Home Secretary, John Reid. Since his recent appointment, he has proved hell-bent to supersede his predecessors in implementing the most ruthless and draconian methods against asylum-seekers after branding the Home Office 'not fit for purpose'.

While his grand plan is designed against all asylum-seekers, the AIT judgment has presented him a timely opportunity to exercise a brutal assault on Zimbabweans to please a disgruntled opposition. Our people will now be used a cannon fodder.

Already, his ministers are talking about removals starting by the end of the month.

The ruling leaves our failed asylum-seekers in a real quandary, if not panic. Should they comply with this ruling, be rounded up as sitting ducks, bundled onto planes or go underground?

The latter looks an attractive option. Zimbabweans feel hard done-by. They have, and sincerely so, pursued a protracted legal route in the belief that the British government position on asylum seekers would conform to their critical stance against the Mugabe regime. Today they ask: where is the rationale?

Only yesterday, the British government was condemning Operation Murambatsvina in terms fit for a brutal dictator that Mugabe is. The human rights situation in Zimbabwe has not changed. The Central Intelligence Organisation continues to monitor arrivals from UK with a hawkish eye.

It is for these reasons that going under will prove a persuasive option. By hopping onto the 'underground train', affected Zimbabweans believe they can at least buy some time away from the madding regime.
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