MDC makes official request for asylum seekers to work in UK
By Tichaona Sibanda
27 February 2007

The Movement for Democratic Change in the UK has made an official request to the British government to allow thousands of failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe to work.

Out of 20 000 Zimbabweans who applied for asylum in the UK since 2000 only 7000 have been granted refugee status and at least 13 000 still have their cases pending with the Home Office.

Hebson Makuvise, the MDC chief representative in the UK, met Home Office officials in London on Tuesday and explained the predicament faced by thousands of Zimbabweans, some of whom are living near destitute lives.

‘We have people who fled Zimbabwe five years ago and whose applications for asylum were rejected and are still out there not working.
We stressed today (Tuesday) to the government that there is a growing problem of destitution among Zimbabwean asylum seekers and we asked if it is possible to allow these people to work,’ Makuvise said.

Failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe have been left in limbo since the high profile case of AA, which forced the British government to suspend forced deportations to Zimbabwe. After the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal ruled in October 2005 that it was not safe to return asylum seekers back to Zimbabwe, most asylum seekers have been unable to access support from the government and are not allowed to work.

British MPs from all parties have been campaigning in the House of Commons, calling on the government to allow those who can work to do so. Most of the legislators have come out in support of the asylum seekers saying since they can’t send them back to Mugabe’s tyranny it is common sense they should be allowed to work for their living.