A South African woman and her six year old son, Zodwa Ethel Mbali and Ameldo, were detained in their home yesterday morning in Linkwood Avenue in Drumchapel.

 

Eight Immigration officers, three men and five women broke into her flat as Zodwa Ethel Mbali and her son Ameldo were still in bed at 7am in the morning. They tried to trick Zelda into opening the door but she refused, not knowing who they were so they broke the door open. Wearing only a t-shirt, she was given 15 minutes to pack some things together and then she was taken to Brand Street. Zodwa had thought she was going to be detained last week when going to report and already had her bags ready. Because she agreed to be 'good' the escort did not put her in hand-cuffs.

 

This is the first 'early morning' / 'dawn raid' on an asylum seeker's home that we have heard about for about one year. In that time the Home Office Immigration Enforcement Team seem to have been concentrating on catching people working without the correct documents or looking for people over-staying their visas. Largescale ciommunity protests, direct action and political opposition to dawn raids in Scotland made many of us think that the barbaric method of detaining families in their homes as they slept had finally ended in Glasgow.

 

In June 2007 the newly elected Scottish Nationalist Scottish Government condemned the Home Office's practice of dawn raids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both Zodwa and Ameldo are HIV positive. Ameldo is Zodwa's third child, her other two sons are still in South Africa. Ameldo and Zodwa arrived in the UK in November last year. Zodwa is looking for asylum for three reasons.

 

In 1989, when she turned 16, her grandfather forced her into an arranged marriage with an elder man for which he was paid a 'bride price', or 'labola', of money and cows. She ran away to Cape Town in 1991 but 8 months later the son of the man she had been forced to marry found her and threatened to kill her unless she returned or her grandfather paid back the labola.Between 1991 and 1994 she was repeatedly visited and threatened by the man's son. She reported this to the police but they took no action. Then in 1994 she saw more people from her home-town in Transguy and she fled because she was scared they would force her back to her grandfather.

 

After 1994 she moved from Cape Town to Dhebon and then to Johanesburg where she met another Tosa woman and moved in with her. In 2001 she was attacked by a group of men from Mozambique. When she reported this to the police they said they could not find the men. As a result of the attack Zodwa was left HIV positive and pregnant.

 

In 2004 Zodwa left Johanesburg and returned to Cape Town. Last year in the middle of October she awoke on Sunday morning to find a man in her shack. She managed to defend herself spraying him with an aerosol spray. Despite reporting it to the police they failed to defend her and a crowd demolished her shack forcing her to go into hiding in a friends home. At that house the brother of the man she had sprayed threatened to kill her and fired shots from a gun into the air outside. After she reported this to the police they said there was nothing she could do as he had a licence for the gun so she would have to apply for a counrt order to keep him away.

 

Too scared to go to court, Zodwa and her son had repeated death threats made against them by this man. Eventually a male friend suggested he would pay for her to come to the UK if she agreed to sleep with him.

 

On 27th November last year Zodwa and Ameldo arrived in the UK.

 

The Home Office have refused her case because they say the South African police will be able to protect Zowda, even though they have shown they can or will not. In their refusal letter they quote the Human Rights Watch 2005 report which states: "The South African government has taken important legislation to try and combat violence against woman ... specilised courts have been established yet convictions remain low. In a country where one quarter of adults are HIV positive, rape can mean death sentence."

An Amnest International Report from the same year is also quoted saying that "only seven per cent of all rape cases reported to the police resulted in convictions."

 

This the Home Office claim shows that the South Arifican authorities ar ewilling and able to investigate and prosecute rape and sexual offences.

 

At thje same time the fact that Zodwa has had to move to different parts of South Africa to escape dangers from different groups of people is being used by the Home Office to suggest that she has "demonstrated her willingness and ability to relocate to unfamiliar surroundings." completely ignoring the fact that Zodwa has had to move on different occasions to avoid threats to her life.

 

The Home Office have issued removal directions for Zodwa and Ameldo to be forcibly returned to South Africa at 8.30pm on Saturday 10th May on a Virgin Atlantic Flight VS601

 

 

1. Please send urgent faxes immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Zodwa and Ameldo be granted protection in the UK. Please remember to include the HO ref:  M1362506). Fax: 020 8760 3132  (00 44 20 8760 3132 if you are faxing from outside UK)

 

2. Please fax or phone Virgin Airlines asking them not to take Zodwa and Ameldo as they will be in danger if returned to South Africa.

CEO Steve Ridgeway - Virgin Atlantic Airways - Manor royal - Crawley - West Sussex - RH10 9NU
Fax:  01293 444124
Alternatively Head Office Virgin Atlantic Head Office 01293 562345

Virgin Atlantic PO Box 747  Dunstable  LU6 9AH  UK  Fax: 08701 900959.

Advanced Passenger Information 0870 190 0950

3. Finally please fax or phone or email Fional Hyslop MSP Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning

Telephone: 0131 348 5921  Email Fiona.Hyslop.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
Fax: 0131 348 5708

Alternatively contact the Scottish Government's Equality Unity at Equality Unit, Scottish Government, Area 2G, Victoria Quay, EDINBURGH EH6 6QQ Tel: 0131 556 8400 or 08457 741741 (for UK local rate)