A ‘VULNERABLE’ Zimbabwean man who was detained and threatened with deportation has now been released - but his family say he is still not safe.
Benjamin Gudza, who has lived in Barnsley for 19 years, is one of thousands of Zimbabwean asylum seekers forced to report to Home Office centres last week to find officials from the country waiting to question them.
After being detained at Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre in Lincoln last Tuesday, ‘Benjie’ was released this week.
However, his family say the threat of deportation has ‘not gone away’.
“He’s quite shaken and fearful,” said his mother, who even fears for her own safety from what she calls ‘Zimbabwe’s version of MI5’, despite having British citizenship along with Benjie’s father.
“We are still very apprehensive. We are busy arranging for a solicitor to take over the case and give us some legal guidance.
“He’s very vulnerable, he is 42 but has a mental age well below that. They asked him questions but he did not understand them.
“He has had issues since he was a child. We are the ones who know about his physical and mental health, but we are not allowed to speak to anyone.
“We ask if he’s going to stay but they don’t tell us anything. They are dangerous people conducting these interviews, they’re the equivalent to MI5 in Zimbabwe.
“I’m not quite sure why the government allows them.”
Benjie, who has been living at Cundy Cross with a family member since his release, has been told to report to Vulcan House in Sheffield on Tuesday for another meeting. He fears what will happen if he is sent back to Zimbabwe, with its record of human rights abuses and conflict.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” Benjie told the Chronicle during his detention.
“I have been in Barnsley for such a long time. I have my brother, father, mother and sister all here.
“This is home to me now, I don’t call anywhere else home. If I get sent to Zimbabwe, where will I go? With the current situation, I don’t feel like it’s safe for me to be there.”
Benjie, who has spent more than five years volunteering with Age UK, on Queens Road, now has to wait to find out whether he can remain in the country he has called home for almost two decades.
“He can’t live away from his family,” said Benjie’s mother, who now lives in Birmingham. “All his friends and family are here.
“In the current environment, no one will look after him. They can’t, people are struggling to put food on the table.
“Home is where his family and parents are.”
