Dan Moshenberg, Guest Blogger
Jimmy Mubenga came to England seeking asylum, seeking life. According to his wife, Makenda Kambana, he was on a government hit list, “They killed my father and they threatened to kill Jimmy. They were looking for him. We had no choice but to leave.” Earlier this week, on Tuesday, October 12, Mubenga boarded a plane for Angola, having lost his last battle for asylum in the UK. Within 50 minutes on the plane, he was dead.
Witnesses report that the guards, G4S private deportation `escorts’, jumped on Mubenga and throttled him to death. Escort deportation has become big business. Most of the 11 immigration removal centers in the UK are run by private firms, in particular G4S, GEO Ltd or Serco.
MPs are calling for an investigation, the former chief inspector of prisons as well. Many informed will raise their voices and eyebrows and hands in surprise and dismay at the violence. Charges of `excessive force’ and ‘brutality’ are heard across the land.
But Jimmy Mubenga is dead. As are Kenyan asylum seeker Eliud Nyenze, who collapsed in April this year at Oakington detention center, run by G4S. Nyenze complained of intense pain, so bad he was reduced to crawling around on the floor, begged for painkillers, and was denied any sort of medical attention. He died in excruciating agony. Manuel Bravo, an Angolan asylum seeker who in September 2005 was found dead, hanged, in Yarl’s Wood. Joy Gardner, a Jamaican woman applying for compassionate leave to stay in Britain, killed in front of her five year old son and her mother, September 1993.
These are the prominent, the recorded, names that have come up in discussions of Jimmy Mubenga’s death. Their deaths, the manner of their deaths, the impunity of those who killed them, is said to haunt the story of Jimmy Mubenga. The passengers on that British Airways flight are described as “haunted by the last cries of a dying man.” Understandably. The nation is haunted. But Jimmy Mubenga is dead, and will remain so. He is not haunted by the past, but his name, his death, is haunted by the future. He is haunted by those who continue to seek asylum.
On Wednesday, October 13, the day after Jimmy Mubenga was killed, Malawian Florence Mhango and her ten-year-old daughter Precious were again blocked from receiving asylum. Precious is seeking asylum because she and her mother fear that if returned to Malawi, by law her estranged father can force her into marriage.
On Thursday, October 14, it was announced that the four-year ban on repatriating Zimbabwean failed asylum applicants would be lifted. Why? Because the Unity Government of Zimbabwe has worked. That many, including the Zimbabwean diasporic and overseas communities, believe that the situation is worsening, that a bloodbath may very well be imminent, is of no matter. That Robert Mugabe, on Friday, called for national elections whether or not the constitution has been passed, is of no matter. That the violence continues is of no matter.
What is important is that the Zimbabweans be sent back, be sent out. Take EM, an MDC member raped and beaten by policemen in her own home, send her back, because she has failed the test of asylum. Take Pauline Enagbonma, an albino woman who fears for her safety as an albino in Zimbabwe, and send her and her three young children back, children who have spent the majority of their lives in the UK. Take Nokuthula Ngazana and her famous 18 year old daughter Gamu, and send them back. Nokuthula Ngazana came to the UK, with her daughter, to study. Home Office claims she filed for visa extension “out of time,” and since Gamu was listed as her dependent on the application, she too must leave. Send them all back, along with all those whose names go unrecorded.
* Dan Moshenberg blogs at Women In and Beyond the Global.
I have sympathy; this should not happen. But I am tired of the UK becoming a dumping ground for African asylum seekers.
I appreciate the plight of these people, but it is not the UK’s responsibility to take them in. There are a lot of safe havens between Angola and Britain.
The UK cannot stand the burden of these asylum seekers any more: it is this massive influx of immigrants that has caused the UK to take such drastic measures and unfortunately, to apparently employ thugs who take things too far.
Personally, I disagree with the writer’s views on the deportation of Zimbabwean asylum seekers because my view of Zim is different. I think it’s important to distinguish between real political asylum seekers and economic refugees turned asylum seekers in this group of failed asylum seekers. The distinction is important because not all the people who return to Zimbabwe face political persecution, least of all Gamu Nhengu.
As for UK Person’s comment, the media’s been very good at hyping up the issue of immigration, how many of the world’s refugees does the UK actually take in? Less than 2%, that’s 31 places off the number one spot – even Sierra Leone and the Congo have higher numbers of refugees than the UK, in Europe, Sweden, Germany and Norway take in far more people. The UK’s really not the place of first resort, most people go to the nearest country to find refuge and very few cross the oceans to get to the UK.
What I can’t understand, is that when White Zimbabweans left Zimbabwe was there this much public outrage over asylum/citizenship claimants? No. But when the Afghanis and Iraqis comes it’s a huge problem. Okay. So, bomb them, but just don’t let them through Her Majesty’s borders ?
It’s a myth that the UK is the refuge point of the world and the benefactor of humanity. The image has been very cleverly constructed throughout history, but in truth, how many asylum seekers are there per year in the UK? The Office of National Statistics says, in 2008 the figure was 25 640 – far lower than what it was in 2002, 84 130. Interestingly, in 2008 the number of voluntary removals or deportations was 66 275! Yea almost 3 times the number of asylum applicants, yet the media creates a big frenzy over a Somali refugee living in a council house in Chelsea or the right wing press pretends like the story of Jimmy Mubenga isn’t even news. *SMH*
BTW I’m digging the header, gr8 pic.
…peace
Correction it’s meant to be 3% of the world’s refugees not 2%.
In a world of over 300 countries and territories, 3% is +/- 10 times what we should be admitting. And yes, of course there are places with higher asylum seeker numbers – because those are the countries geographically closer to the trouble spots.
It’s easy to only assume that the spin is put from one side – ie. the media. And yes, small matters are hyped up – if you believe everything you read in the newspapers, then you are a fool. I hate the “right wing press” as much as you do.
But equally, if you believe government statistics, you are also foolish. It’s perfectly reasonable to assume that the UK government wants to limit the number of people it is seen to admit into the country. This is a political hot potato and they’ve still got the thousands of illegals to take into consideration as well.
Believe me, there was plenty of fuss over the white Zimbabweans. And they were small in number. You can do all you like to turn this into a racial issue (but you’d be as bad as the “right wing press” if you did). This is economics. The UK is struggling under its own population at the moment without taking on everyone else’s problems as well.
UK Person,
You misunderstand my reason for mentioning White Zimbabweans versus Afghanis and Iraqis – the point was not simply about race, I’m sorry that’s an overly simplistic kneejerk reaction. My point was that the UK has ancestral ties to White Zimbabweans and this is the reason why the UK offered refuge to them in light of the 2000-2 violence. (For different but related reasons, Australia, Canada and New Zealand did the same.)
However with the Iraqis and Afghanis where the UK has had direct influence in the displacement of people, has there been an offer? I don’t know, but what I do know is there is public aversion to these people seeking refuge in the UK. How one fails to connect increased asylum flows with the violence being carried out there on a daily basis just beggars belief.
Of course there may be discrepancies in government statistics but they’re not flat out wrong – there are undocumented people but these are definitely not in excess of the +25000 who apply for asylum each year. The fact that the number of applicants has fallen from +80000 to under +30000 doesn’t make a dint in the public conscience, so even if as a result of increased global stability (or if Af-Pak was declared over), that number went down to half or even 10%, there would still be public outrage over it. If economics is the issue, how much does it really cost? As a rough estimate the UK spends less than 1% of it’s budget on asylum seekers or international aid. What’s the impact of a minority group of asylum seekers on other public services as compared to another group of people in the UK? Don’t know, but I bet it’s minimal. Again, it’s a populist issue, it’s the politics of difference rather than economics.
Human life is sacred and no one should be allowed to take it from another. For the UK this is only the deaf of an asylum seeker but in fact for his family it’s the deaf of a son, a brother, a sister, a husband and a FATHER. He has been executed publicly only for having “loved” the UK. He died as victim of racism, of selfishness, of hate. This story hasn’t made headlines and even now some people are still not aware of the crime that has been committed. The silence of the government and the medias can be interpreted as a gesture of approval.This is a very sad story and I only hope that some thing will be done for the responsibles to be punished and for this not to be allowed anymore.
Precious Mhango haunts Jimmy Mubenga, Gamu Nhengu haunts Jimmy Mubenga. The tens of thousands of children, of women and men seeking asylum and those who in the future shall seek asylum in the United Kingdom, they haunt Jimmy Mubenga.
And Jimmy Mubenga is dead.