From July, the UK government quietly loosened the immigration rules for asylum seekers in order to clear a backlog of cases. The British government two years ago halted its policy of returning failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers because of the dire political situation.
SW Radio Africa can reveal that in the last few months, hundreds of failed asylum seekers from the MDC were granted leave to remain in UK after their cases were reviewed on an individual basis.
Reports in the British media last week said as a result of the changes, some 40,000 immigrants who had moved to the UK from Zimbabwe, Iran and other troubled countries have been told they can stay in the UK.
Jaison Matewu, the organising secretary of the MDC-UK, told us Home Office figures show that 20,000 Zimbabweans applied for refugee status in the UK in the last nine years and that slightly over 8,000 have been granted.
Matewu said.
Post published in: Politics