Zimbabwean teacher to be deported after years in SA

Pretoria - While the court has sympathy for a former school teacher who fled to South Africa from Zimbabwe, the man will have to return to his country after spending seven years in South Africa.

The man, only identified as Stephen to protect his mother who is HIV-positive, fled to South Africa when his family was allegedly persecuted by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF due to their political affiliation with the opposition MDC.

Acting Judge Francois Botes, sitting in the high court in Pretoria, turned down the man's application against the Department of Home Affairs, which was refusing to issue him with refugee status.

Stephen said the last straw was Zanu-PF refusing to allow his mother and younger brother state-funded antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

Apart from fearing for his own life in Zimbabwe, the most important reason he came to South Africa was to earn money so that he could afford the drugs for his family back home.

Home Affairs refused to issue him with refugee status, stating that there was no evidence that his life would be in danger if he was sent home. The department concluded that he was in South Africa simply for commercial reasons.

He worked as a security guard and asked the court to declare that he be recognised as a refugee, which would give him more privileges.

Stephen, 30, said he became politically active while teaching and publicly supported the MDC. He feared persecution by Zanu-PF security forces in 2002, and left his teaching profession in Masvingo where he lived and moved to Harare.

He worked at his aunt's medical practice. She was an outspoken MDC supporter, who only treated members of the party.

His aunt received threats, demanding that she close her practice. She was eventually arrested and held in custody for several weeks.

One of his brothers, who also worked at the practice, was abducted and later murdered. His body was found in a sewer system, but his killers are still on the loose.

Stephen said he believed it was a politically-motivated killing.

He decided to move back to his birthplace in a small village called Bikita, which is a Zanu-PF stronghold.

"The news about my return spread like wildfire and a neighbour warned me that Zanu-PF was coming for me."

Stephen said he managed to catch a bus during the night and went back to Harare. But then his mother and brother, who had received ARV medication from the Zimbabwean government, had their names removed from that list.

He also became fearful that he would be apprehended by the Zanu-PF forces in the run-up to the national elections.

He left Zimbabwe seven years ago for South Africa and lived in Benoni, while seeking asylum.

In his refugee application, he told Home Affairs he left Zimbabwe because of the political situation and to buy ARV drugs for his family.

The department turned down his application as he failed to prove he would be persecuted if sent back. It was found that he was in the country purely for economical reasons.

Judge Botes said it seemed that MDC supporters were allowed reasonably fair opportunity to participate in the 2013 elections and it did not appear that Stephen still required protection from persecution.

He said the fact that his mother and brother could not get medication did not give rise to a "well- founded fear of persecution" as envisaged in the law.

The judge said the political situation seemed to have settled down and most Zimbabweans who came here, seemed to do so for economic reasons.