Botswana court shuts out Zimbabwean refugees

A COURT in Botswana has turned down an application by Zimbabwean refugees seeking to avoid deportation after the neighbouring country cancelled their refugee status.

Media reports from that country state that five Zimbabweans led by Terence Charuma, who were fighting deportation, allegedly, in fear of political persecution in Harare, had to be taken to the government court after Botswana's Defence, Justice and Security minister, Thomas Kagiso Mmusi, in January 2020 declared that they were no longer recognised as political refugees before cancelling their refugee status.

They had filed an application at the courts seeking to overturn the government decision to cancel their refugee status.

But Gaborone High Court Judge Justice Michael Leburu ruled that the refugees erred as they took two months to approach the courts even after the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) process was completed.

"No explanation for such a prolonged lull has been advanced by the refugees. Cumulatively, the delay of about a year and a half is unreasonable," Leburu said.

"The applicants did not approach the court with the necessary dispatch, notwithstanding their assertion that this is an important case."

Leburu noted that the prospects of success as stated by the applicants were bald and not supported, nor were they proven by any evidence.

He said the Zimbabweans had not proffered enough particulars of the alleged persecution to show how their lives were in danger if repatriated to Zimbabwe, adding that they did not even disclose the name of their opposition party in Zimbabwe.

"The other potent and cogent reason why the applicants' prospects of success in the main review application are dim and vulnerable is that the minister's decision to revoke the applicants' status was given deferential imprimatur by UNHCR which is a highly competent, impaired and specialised organ of the UN that deals with issues of refugees," the judge said.

Leburu said the refugees approached the courts with dirty hands and were not at a place designated for them at the centre for illegal immigrants in Francistown.

"It was argued that as the applicants were no longer refugees, they were not entitled to reside and remain at the Dukwi Refugee Camp," Leburu ruled.

"What this means is that wherever they are, they are at the said place illegally, hence they cannot seek the court's indulgence."

He said for that reason, the refugees failed to make a case for leave to bring a review application outside the requisite four months.