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Kennedy Mavhumashava
OUTGOING Zimbabwe Ambassador to Australia, Jacqueline Zwambila yesterday filed papers seeking asylum in Australia, claiming that she fears for her safety if she returns home. Zwambila was seconded to the diplomatic posting by the MDC-T as part of the power-sharing structure of the inclusive government and was deployed to Australia in December 2009.
The Government recalled the controversial MDC-T member late last month and her tour of duty ends in three days’ time. But reports from Canberra say Zwambila has vacated the official ambassador’s residence in a suburb called Red Hill and has applied to the host government for a protection visa that allows her to stay there.
She alleged in an interview with an Australian paper, The Canberra Times that she faces “indefinite” custody if she returns and wants to continue with her “activism” while in that country.
Zwambila claimed that the July 31 election that her party lost dismally was “stolen” by Zanu-PF and then attacked the revolutionary party, arguments that have apparently worked for opposition figures seeking asylum in the West.
“I don’t feel safe about returning to Zimbabwe at all,” she said.
Zwambila said when she heard about the Zanu-PF victory in the July elections, she saw “doom, a black cloud”.
She said:
“I knew then it was the end of my term.”
Zwambila rose to international infamy in November 2010, when she allegedly stripped to her undergarments in the presence of embassy staff following a heated argument with them. She was accusing some of them of leaking confidential information to the Press.
In October last year, she courted more controversy when she attended a re-union of former Rhodesian soldiers now living in Australia. She posed for pictures with some former Rhodesians.
The Government ordered her to explain circumstances surrounding her presence at an event that celebrated Rhodesian oppression of blacks in Zimbabwe.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Joey Bimha said the Government had already sent Zwambila money for her to buy an air ticket and pay the freight charge for her property to enable her to fly back home at the end of this month.
He said he could not comment on reports that she is seeking refugee status and her allegation of possible arrest.
“We have not yet been told that she seeking asylum,” said Ambassador Bimha.
“All we know is that we have provided her with money for her to come home.
We have sent her money for her air ticket and her family’s and also to carry her personal effects. We assume that she is coming back. That is the official position. If she is seeking asylum, she cannot inform us.”
Apart from Zwambila, the Government has recalled its top envoy to Germany, Hebson Makuvise and his counterpart in Nigeria, Mabhedi Ngulane. The ambassador to Sudan, Hilda Mafudze keeps her job as does Trudy Stevenson, the ambassador to Senegal.
Makuvise, Zwambila, Ngulane and Mafudze were seconded by MDC-T while Stevenson was an MDC appointee.
After the stripping story was published locally by The Herald and an Australian paper, The Australian, Zwambila sued the writer of the story, Reason Wafawarova, for defamation. She also sued The Australian. She won the case against Wafawarova on a technicality. A determination on the amount of damages she must get from Wafawarova has been set for April. The Herald columnist is appealing.
Zwambila reached an out-of-court settlement with the Australian newspaper that had ran the story without her comment. Reports say she received 60, 000 Australian dollars from the paper in March 2011 as damages.
Commenting on the stripping allegations, she told The Canberra Times, ‘‘They have failed to destroy me and my integrity remains intact.”
MDC-T spokesman, Douglas Mwonzora said that Zwambila’s “fears are valid.”
“They are valid because there is selective application of the law,” he said.
“Nobody can guarantee that she cannot be arrested. She has been a victim of bad writing by Zanu-PF writers and the President of the Republic has criticised her. Therefore her safety is not guaranteed. The Government must guarantee safe return of the ambassador. We expect Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs to guarantee safe return otherwise she looks justified to take precautions.”
Online Reporter