Makosi decision stinks to high heavens

Makosi decision stinks to high heavens

• Makosi wins right to stay in UK as refugee

• Move over Makosi, enter Chenai

• Makosi fears Mugabe security forces

• Chiyangwa blasts 'sad liar' Makosi

• Makosi deportation decision on October 20

• Makosi in big bother with bailiffs

• Taffy Nyawanza: Makosi and the real Big Brother

• Makosi: I'm scared to go home

• Makosi given 10 days to leave UK

• Makosi nicked by UK cops over visa breach

• Makosi HIV story: the truth

• Makosi booted out of Big Brother

• Sun blows Makosi's mask

• Chenjerai Hove: Of mice, horse meat, dogs and cats

• Mduduzi Mathuthu: Why we back Makosi to win Big Brother

• Makosi's dog-eating claims stun Zimbabweans

• Mduduzi Mathuthu: The PR disaster that sparked Makosi hate

• Chiyangwa tells all about Makosi to UK paper

• Makosi 'pregnancy' can't be real - Chiyangwa

• Big Brother housemates round on Makosi

• Makosi in Big Brother racism row

• Makosi on secret mission to beat eviction

• Makosi in steamy lesbian snog on Big Brother

• Sexy Big Brother minx Makosi a lesbian

• Mum desperate for Makosi to get hitched

• Your Shouts II: Shamed by Makosi's bare act?

• New Zimbabwe.com Says: This filth has no place in our society

• Makosi lost virginity to Chiyangwa aged 16

• Makosi dated polygamous Mugabe cousin

• Your Shouts I: Big Brother: Makosi defended

• Mduduzi Mathuthu: Every Zimbabwean should be ashamed

THE decision by the asylum and immigration tribunal to grant Makosi Musambasi refugee status in the UK borders on the ridiculous.

It is as sickening as it is sad.

Sickening, because Makosi sold a watery alibi and succeeded in fooling the immigration authorities; sad because genuine Zimbabwean asylum-seekers have over the years been denied refugee status, detained, bundled onto planes and flown back into the real lion's den.

Even to day, some Zimbabweans continue to languish in detention centres or have been subjected to an agonisingly lengthy rigmarole of claiming asylum. Others have had State support withdrawn. And sadly, a few committed suicide out of a sense of hopelessness.

All of these claimants might not have good cause to be in the UK. But then neither does Makosi if her demonstratively weak claim is anything to go by.

Yet Makosi – who, in her desperate quest for fame, flagrantly breached her visa provisions -- will now enjoy refugee status and the benefits which come with such status.

To believe that Makosi would have been persecuted back in Zimbabwe for appearing on the TV show Big Brother is as good as believing that pigs will fly tomorrow. Yes, it is that ludicrous.

The truth is that Makosi would have walked freely through the Harare International Airport – perhaps with a group of supporters waiting -- and then proceeded to walk freely into the streets of Harare.

The disturbing consequence of the tribunal’s decision on Makosi is that it trivialises the issue of asylum itself; it flies in the face of the spirited battles continuously waged by many refugees and asylum-seekers’ organisations with concerns of such genuine persons at heart. Against that background, the Makosi ruling is, therefore, a crying travesty.

Lest it be forgotten: Zimbabweans are engaged in a serious struggle for survival, for change, for peace, for democracy. It would take something bigger than Makosi to grab their collective attention and distract them from such struggles.

Inherent in those bitter struggles are the unsavoury political acts, consequently leading to asylum-seekers coming to the UK. It is these people who deserve sanctuary most.

And some of them bear both physical and psychological scars to show for it. If Makosi case becomes part of case-law in UK immigration, then faith in the asylum system will be permanently eroded.

It still befuddles the mind that Makosi’s case could pass the test in any other category other than the political. It could still have been on shaky ground under the humanitarian protection category. All in all, this is a wrong benchmark for asylum cases and does not deserve any place in case-law books.

And lest we forget, Makosi was already in the UK holding down a fairly good job as a cardiac nurse. She chose to break her visa provisions to engage in lesbian orgies on TV.

During the fishbowl experience and the aftermath, she demonstrated she could go to any lengths to be famous. She accrued substantial amounts of money in the process. Many waited to hear her announce she was paying for her mother’s cancer operation who – according to Makosi – desperately and urgently needed one to save her life.

But, that is beside the critical point. We repeat: it is highly improbable that her shenanigans, indiscretions and wild claims would have led to any form of persecution back in Zimbabwe.

The immigration and asylum system needs protection. If the system is compromised, genuine asylum-seekers risk being denied a safe haven at the expense of self-seeking opportunists. Sadly, this decision by the tribunal trivialises the whole UK asylum system. It brings the legitimacy of the process into question.

We had thought the facts of this case were as naked as Makosi in the Big Brother swimming pool. How wrong we were.

When asylum is granted depending on how frequently one flashes their boobs on national television, then we all collectively need to rediscover our moral compass.

This decision stinks to high heavens!
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
shapiro@newzimbabwe.com