Ambassador Zwambila asylum claim personal: MDC-T

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party has issued a statement saying a decision by the country’s outgoing ambassador to Australia, Jacqueline Zwambila to claim asylum was a ‘personal’ one and not made by the party. 

Zwambila a senior official in the MDC-T was in 2009 deployed to represent the Zimbabwe government in Australia under a shaky power sharing government cobbled together after President Robert Mugabe lost elections in 2008.

“The decision made this month by Ambassador Zwambila to seek political asylum after the expiry of her term, is personal after she looked at her personal circumstances and what she went through at the hands of the Zimbabwe government during her tenure,” the MDC-T said in a statement on Saturday.

“As a party, the MDC will not make any decision in her seeking asylum because we are unable to redress her genuine concerns and fears. The ill treatment that she received at the hands of the State and State agents while on a national tour of duty as Zimbabwe’s representative to Australia are well documented.

“The false allegations of indecorous behaviour were proved to be false in the courts and one of her attackers, Reason Wafawarowa has been ordered by the court to pay damages to her for peddling falsehoods in the media.

After the accusations, the Zimbabwean government also made separate investigations and found the allegations to be unfounded,” the MDC-T said.

The MDC-T said the onus to protect citizens including top government officials, like Ambassador Zwambila, lies with the government of the day and “it is very worrying that the Zanu PF government is failing to do so.”

“It is the prerogative of the government of the day to give assurances of security to Ambassador Zwambila, that her life is not in any form of danger if she is to return to Zimbabwe,” the party said.