UK attempts deportation of Zimbabwean woman

By a Guest Correspondent

Immigration authorities in the United Kingdom on Thursday attempted to deport a 37 year old Zimbabwean woman, Efa Kamdefwele, whose claim for asylum was rejected in 2004.

Kamdwefele came to the UK using a Malawian passport and despite producing all available documents to prove she is Zimbabwean, the authorities have refused to accept them. Deportations to Zimbabwe are currently on hold owing to a series of court cases that established that asylum seekers from there were still at risk if sent back home.

Speaking to Nehanda Radio from her detention room in Yarlswood, Kamdefwele said she had produced her Zimbabwean birth certificate, metal national identity card, school certificates, her father’s citizenship certificate, bank statements, pay slips and other documents proving she has been in Zimbabwe all her life.

Kamdefwele was a teacher in Zimbabwe who faced victimisation like all the other teachers before she fled to the UK. She was also an active member of the MDC. The problem however was that the immigration authorities in the UK refused to deal with the merits of her application and instead focussed on why she had come with a Malawian passport.

On Thursday she was meant to have been put on a Kenya Airways flight KQ101 to Nairobi before connecting on another flight KQ722 to Malawi. It’s still not clear what halted the deportation. Activists have been busy campaigning for the deportation to be stopped. We are told another removal attempt will be made within the next 72 hours and she has been sent back to Yarlswood in the meantime.

Worryingly for Kamdefwele an application for a judicial review of the case was rejected this week by the courts. Her family and friends had to cough up 1500 pounds to sponsor that particular application. Legally only an appeal in the Supreme Court can save her but her solicitors Bake and Co in Birmingham are said to be asking for 2500 pounds upfront.

Anti-deportation campaigners have also appealed for help from former UK Home Secretary Jack Straw who is the MP for Blackburn, being Kamdefwele’s town of residence. Activists say she has no family in Malawi and is likely to be sent to Zimbabwe where currently the UK is not deporting people to over persecution fears.

Meanwhile Kenya Airways has come under increasing pressure from activists for continuing to accept business from the UK Home Office and flying people being deported to countries where they are at risk. Several deportations in the past have been scuttled after the airline gave in to strong criticism, phone calls and faxes from angry members of the public. Nehanda Radio

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