UK deports Zimbabwean grandmother

LONDON – British immigration officials on Thursday finally deported a Zimbabwean grandmother Evenia Mawongera after they put her on a Kenya Airways flight from Heathrow Airport at 8pm.

Mawongera sought asylum in the UK but this was rejected. Even the fact that she had lived in the UK for 10 years and that her daughters were now British citizens was never taken into consideration, campaigners argued.

Those who fought for her continued stay argued that she was an outspoken critic of the Robert Mugabe regime and would face possible retribution if sent back home.

After months of campaigning to persuade Home Secretary Theresa May to allow her to stay, Mawongera had been due to be put on an Ethiopia Airlines flight at 9pm. But she missed it. She was then put on a Kenyan flight.

Lawyers who were representing her failed to secure a judicial review of the deportation order. Her daughter Loreen Mawongera was with her during the ordeal in the departure area of Heathrow Airport but declined to comment.