Quakers fight deportation of Zimbabwean Friend
‘The climate of disbelief currently deeply embedded in Home Office processes is inhumane and discriminatory.’
Friends in Stockton-on-Tees have rallied around a fellow Quaker who fears for her life if returned to Zimbabwe as part of the UK government’s policies for asylum seekers.
Josy Sipiwe Jenje-Mudimbu, fifty-six, who has attended Norton Meeting in County Durham since arriving in 2018, is already on crutches after a failed deportation attempt.
Now Norton Quakers have launched a petition and a GoFundMe campaign to fight the removal of their friend.
A former broadcaster, filmmaker and secretary of Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe, Josy’s defence of human rights and involvement with Zimbabwe’s main opposition party makes her a target for reprisals from ruling party Zanu-PF.
Her activism in support of LGBTQ+ rights places her at risk under current Zimbabwean policy, and her barrister believes there are grounds for her to be awarded asylum.
Mary Garrett, from Norton Meeting, said: ‘Josy is still affected by the trauma of the deportation attempt, and she lives with the knowledge that at any point, another removal could be attempted and might well be successful.
‘She feels a return to Zimbabwe would be equivalent to a death sentence. We love her dearly and we are working to prevent a terrible thing happening to a kind and principled woman.’
Josy sustained a suspected fracture after resisting six enforcement operatives during the deportation attempt last month, prevented only by a successful last-minute appeal by her barrister.
A former member of Harare Quakers, since living in Stockton Josy has continued to live out her Quaker beliefs, volunteering for a drug addiction charity and the British Heart Foundation shop in Stockton.
Paul Parker, recording clerk for Britain Yearly Meeting, said: ‘The climate of disbelief currently deeply embedded in Home Office processes is inhumane and discriminatory.’
A petition on Change.org calling for Josy’s right to remain currently has more than 1,200 signatories.
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