Messages From Zimbabwe

Official statistics refute the claims that Britain is being “swamped” by immigration and show the desperately impoverished conditions in which immigrants live and work.

Annual net immigration is closely correlated with Britain’s economic growth and for many years, more people left than came to Britain. According to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), there were 5.5 million Britons living abroad in 2005. Every year, at least 90,000 nationals leave Britain to work overseas.

The trend of negative net immigration reversed during the boom years of the 1980s, but net immigration only really took off after the 1990s recession, as it did in almost all industrialised countries. Since 1998, it has exceeded 100,000 a year, although many migrant workers tend to return home after a short stay.

Many economic migrants are employed in low paid, minimum wage jobs. More than a few are subject to ruthless exploitation by human traffickers who forced them to pay extortionate sums to get to Britain, or by gang masters who treat them like slaves working in the most dangerous conditions. The case of the 19 Chinese cockle pickers who lost their lives in 2004 is one of the most tragic examples.

Even at the peak of immigration in 2004 - after the expansion of the European Union when Britain was one of only three countries to open its doors to the new accession countries - the total number of migrants was 244,000, largely from Poland and Eastern Europe. Economic migration has since fallen as many immigrants have returned home. Immigration fell sharply in 2008 with the onset of the recession and could fall to 100,000 a year.

The Labour government’s points-based system, introduced in 2008, restricts immigration to what is deemed in Britain’s “economic interests”. It gives work permits to highly skilled workers and those with a job offer where there are no other applicants. Only about 96,000 permits a year have been given since 2006, mainly to workers from Asia and Australia.

About 47,000 spouses, partners and dependants are admitted - but only after they have jumped through numerous hoops to prove their relationship. While 309,000 visas a year are given to overseas students who pay to study in British universities - mostly youth from China, Russia, Japan and the US - they are often too late for students to start their courses on time. Education is now a major export industry.

A report by the London School of Economics shows that the UK has a lower share of immigrants in its population (10.2 percent) than Australia (25 percent), the US (13.6 percent), Sweden (13.6 percent), Germany (12.9 percent) and the Netherlands (10.7 percent). They come from a more diverse range of countries than ever before, most frequently Poland, India, Pakistan, South Africa and the US. They tend to be younger and better educated than the UK-born population and the more recent immigrants are even better educated.

The number of asylum seekers and refugees is small. In 2007, according to Home Office figures, there were 23,430 asylum applications, mostly from the war-torn regions of the world: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq and Sri Lanka. Including dependants, there were just 27,900 asylum seekers. As most are young men without dependants, they are not eligible for social housing under Labour’s 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act.

Asylum seekers face almost insurmountable hurdles to defend their right to stay. Of those who received an initial decision on their asylum application in 2007, just 16 percent were granted refugee status. Eleven percent were given humanitarian protection or discretionary leave to stay, while 73 percent were refused. Just 23 percent of those who appealed a decision were successful.

After an application is rejected, the Home Office suspends all financial assistance, usually within 21 days, and then issues a removal order. The failed asylum seekers can then be seized by the UK Border Agency police without notice and incarcerated pending deportation. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, at least 55 asylum seekers have taken their own lives since 2000 rather than go back to their own countries.

Many failed asylum seekers “disappear” and become part of the growing black economy where they are cruelly exploited. Others become destitute and are reduced to begging and sleeping on friends’ floors. The Home Office estimated that the number of “irregular” or undocumented migrants was between 330,000 and 500,000 in 2001. Their plight is horrific. Since 2004, undocumented workers have been denied access to hospital treatment, much to the concern of doctors.

Economic migrants have very limited entitlement to social welfare, depending on thier citizen and residency status and National Insurance contributions. Those who have been in Britain less than five years are not entitled to social housing or housing benefits and tax credits, even when on low incomes.

The overwhelming majority of economic migrants rent from private landlords, some of whom have bought up former council houses, fuelling misconceptions about “queue jumping”. Less than two percent of the 10 million people who live in social housing are new migrants. They are mainly refugees who have been given permission to stay in Britain and have been allocated empty social housing in the north of England and Scotland.

(Source)

An asylum seeker from Zimbabwe who is to be deported on Sunday has issued a desperate plea to stay in Leicester, saying he is certain to be killed if he is sent home.

Charles Ndelemani fled his homeland to live in Leicester in 2003 after being attacked for his political views and for refusing to train child militia.

The 42-year-old, who lives in Albion Street, in the city centre, says he is still a wanted man in Zimbabwe and fears he will be arrested and killed when he lands at the country’s Harare airport.

Friends have mounted a petition which they were to submit to the UK Border Agency today in the hope of delaying his departure while the decision to deport him is reviewed.

Speaking to the Leicester Mercury yesterday from a detention centre in Cambridge, Mr Ndelemani said: “I am very worried about leaving the UK.

“I will be violently attacked and they will want me dead. If I go back that is what will happen.”

He is still a member of the Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC), which opposes president Robert Mugabe’s government in Zimbabwe, and is currently treasurer of MDC Leicester.

Mr Ndelemani is being deported to Malawi, via Zimbabwe, because he arrived on a Malawian passport – an option for Zimbabweans when the country was called Rhodesia.

But he renounced his Malawian nationality and reverted to being Zimbabwean in 2007 after Mugabe made it illegal to hold dual citizenship.

Supporters, who have so far collected more than 1,000 signatures, claim his application for asylum was rejected because the UK Border Agency believes he is still a Malawian national.

Mr Ndelemani is due to land in Zimbabwe before being transferred to Malawi. He said that if he made it to Malawi, he would be returned to Zimbabwe by border officials for not having a Malawian passport.

Patson Muzuwa, UK chairman of the Zimbabwe Association, said Mr Ndelemani had little hope of survival if he did not remain in the UK.

MDC member Mr Muzuwa, of Welford Road, Leicester, was himself tortured and arrested in his homeland for his political beliefs.

Makaza Chizinga, 35, from Leicester city centre, used to work for Air Zimbabwe as reservations co-ordinator at Harare airport. He said he knew from his experience that officials would be expecting his friend, Mr Ndelemani.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “Only those failed asylum seekers who do not need international protection are removed.”

(Source)

Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom are set to celebrate Zimbabwe’s independence across the country with places such as Leeds, Nottingham, and Bristol eagerly preparing for their own local gatherings.

Masses are set to gather across the country where many have already confirmed their attendance to the event which is to be held on the 17th April instead of the 18th, the official day of Zimbabwe’s national independence.

In Nottingham, the Nottingham Zimbabwe Community organisation is set to hold their gathering at the Old Basford Community Centre, Bramble Close, in Nottingham’s NG6 area. The theme for this meeting is “In Memory Of Those Who Shed Their Blood And Those In Search Of Democracy.”

Veteran democracy activist and ‘Zimbabwe Debate’ coordinator, Albert Weidemann is also set to speak on this day.

In Leeds, the Leeds Zimbabwe Community organisation, ZimCommLeeds is set to host their event with music, style and dance where the dance group, Hohodza is to stage a historic performance during a ’food-fested’ function to be held at White Horse, 306 York Road, LS9 9DN.

Speaking to reporters, the coordinator, Khetani Mulibane Ndou said that communities chose Saturday the 17th of rather than the 18th because of the general convenience of a Saturday.

On the 18th April 1980, Zimbabwe gained its independence from Great Britain concluding an end of rule of Prime Minister Ian Smith’s Rhodesia government. To this day, the country has remained in the hands of an authoritarian leadership under Robert Mugabe who is still its president.

(Source)

A man charged with the murder of a woman in Leicester has been remanded in custody.

The body of Julia Mubvumba, 44, was found at an address in Gotham Street, Highfields, on Friday.

Archibold Gurure, 34, of Humberstone Road, Leicester, was remanded by magistrates in the city to appear at Leicester Crown Court on 5 July.

Ms Mubvumba was originally from Zimbabwe but lived in Leicester, police said.

(Source)

A 35-year-old Zimbabwean man Allan Dambuka who committed burglaries at a number of B&Bs, by gaining access to rooms with filed down keys, was jailed for 12 months this week and could face deportation following his release.

Allan Dambuka with an address at 203A Collins Avenue, Whitehall, Dublin 9, appeared before Galway District Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to the offences brought against him.

Garda Patrick O’Shea gave evidence that on January 4, 2010, there had been a report of a burglary at Griffin Lodge, Fr Griffin Place. When he arrived at the scene a French couple, who had been staying at the B&B, told him that when they had returned to their room after breakfast they had found the defendant rifling through their belongings.

Dambuka, who had also been a guest at the B&B, had been seen taking money from a wallet but immediately put it back when the couple entered the room. Garda O’Shea said that the defendant had only been in Galway for the night and had returned to Dublin.

Dambuka then returned to Galway on March 12 last and booked into Anbelle Lodge in Lower Salthill. From his investigations, Garda O’Shea was able to track the defendant down and when he entered the room Dambuka was seen discarding a “quantity of keys”.

Garda O’Shea explained that a lot of older B&Bs use Basta door keys and that there is only a small number of these types which means that “one key can open many doors”. He said that the defendant had filed down one key “in an effort to gain access” to doors in the B&B. Garda O’Shea later told Judge Mary Fahy that B&Bs that have been in existence for a number of years, and which would use these types of locks and keys, were targeted.

“To say that he was caught red-handed would be appropriate,” said Judge Fahy.

Defence solicitor Adrian MacLynn said that his client was orginally from Zimbabwe and that his application for aslyum was currently in process. He said that Dambuka, who is married with one child, had left his country because of political turmoil and has been in Ireland since 2008.

Inspector Sean Glynn then informed the court that Dambuka has no previous convictions in this jurisdiction. Garda O’Shea also explained that Dambuka had been refused asylum in this country in August 2008, and that this was affirmed in August 2009. He also said that according to the immigration system Dambuka did come to the attention of the UK authorities when he was residing there.

“You’re here seeking the mercy of this country and this is the thanks you give by stealing from the inhabitants,” Judge Fahy told the defendant who then attempted to go down on his knees to beg for leniency.

“Just get up, I don’t want any of that nonsense,” said Judge Fahy, before imposing a total of 12 months in jail. Judge Fahy then told Garda O’Shea that it was incumbent on him to ensure that Dambuka was deported.

“He’s of no use to this country,” she said, before commending Garda O’Shea for his work in preventing the defendant from targeting more B&Bs.

(Source)

A failed asylum seeker who lived in a car outside his wife’s hostel has been handed a suspended prison sentence after using a false passport in a bid to gain work.

Gabrial Ziki was chairman of the National Aircraft Engineers’ Association in his homeland of Zimbabwe.

But he fled to the UK in 2003 after his life was threatened when he grounded the national airline by taking his men out on strike.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard yesterday that the 40-year-old’s application for asylum was refused.

He then lived in this country without claiming benefits, mainly through the goodwill of friends. 

But Ziki became desperate and, on November 2, applied for work at an agency in Shelton. His documents were checked and he was arrested on November 10.

The defendant, of no fixed address, made no comment in his police interview.

But he pleaded guilty to having a false Zimbabwean passport, which he knew or believed to be false, with the intention of establishing facts about himself.

Jason Holt, defending, said Ziki lived in a vehicle outside a women’s hostel in Shelton where his wife lives.

He added: “She received £35 per week and they buy food from that. Desperate times call for desperate measures. He has been put in a situation and had very little choice but to do what he has done.”

Mr Holt asked Judge Paul Glenn to consider passing a suspended sentence with unpaid work.

The judge agreed and sentenced Ziki to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, with 180 hours’ unpaid work.

(Source)