Lawyers halt deportation of Zimbabwean woman

By a correspondent

United Kingdom- A last minute intervention by lawyers on Saturday temporarily halted the deportation of Efa Kamdefwele, a 37 year old Zimbabwean woman whose claim for asylum was rejected in 2004.

Efa Kamdefwele

Kamdefwele like most desperate Zimbabweans came to the United Kingdom using a Malawian passport. But despite producing all available documents to prove she is Zimbabwean, the UK Home Office refused to accept them.

The first attempt to deport her was on Thursday via a Kenya Airways flight KQ101 to Nairobi which would have connected with another flight KQ722 to Malawi. For some reason she was never put on that flight. Then on Saturday another flight British Airways (flight BA57) was meant to take her to Malawi via Johannesburg.

A flurry of activity on Saturday saw immigration lawyer Dr Simba Mavaza from IEI Solicitors stepping in with a last ditch High Court application to halt the deportation. Mavaza told Nehanda Radio that Efa apart from producing documents proving her nationality had also previously undergone a language analysis at the behest of the UK Home Office which proved with ‘certainty’ she was Zimbabwean.

In addition she was asked to demonstrate her perfect knowledge about Zimbabwe, its suburbs, schools, types of examinations written, notable landmarks, national parks and civic leaders. Every aspect of her immigration history shows that she is a Zimbabwean. The fact that on this one occasion she travelled on a Malawian passport cannot detract from the overwhelming proof that she is a Zimbabwean national the lawyer said.

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. But in Efa’s case the UK Home Office is refusing to accept she is a Zimbabwean national because of the passport she used to enter the country.

Speaking to Nehanda Radio from her detention room in Yarlswood, Efa 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.

Efa is a member of the Zimbabwe Vigil which every Saturday demonstrates in central London against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. She says she was also an active member of the MDC when she was still in Zimbabwe and fled the country owing to state sponsored persecution.

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 because of fears of persecution. Nehanda Radio

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