John Mabhureza of Northampton United Kingdom sits in a
corner in prison. He has grown so thin and he is not eating well. He has
reduced himself into a silent dying man.
Mabhureza’s problems started when he told his wife that he
was divorcing her. “Things were not well in my marriage. I decided to call it
quits. As we were going through our divorce proceedings, we remained in the
same house, but using different bedrooms,” said Mabhureza.
“One early morning, I was waken up by the police. They
shook me off the bed and tripped me to the floor. Before I knew it, I was in
handcuffs. The officer told me that I was being charged of rape, that I had
rapped my daughter who was 12.
“The police took me to the police station where I was
processed and thrown in cells. Before I knew it, I was sent to prison to wait
for my trial while I was in custody. The trial was conducted after ix months of
waiting.
“I was brought before a jury of women and they were all
white. The trial was very short. I was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in
prison.”
Mabhureza paused
with tears running down his cheeks. He
struggled to continue, but finally with a very weak voice he said: “Last week
my daughter came to see me. She told me that she was sorry she lied in court.
She was promised toys and monies every week. She was assured that she will be
an independent woman.
“She cried as she looked at me. Her last words were she was
going to kill herself if I am not released. My lawyer of choice said it will
not be possible to appeal as we are late. He promised he will do his best. But
now I am still here two years later.
“My wife took everything I worked for. I sit here as an
example of a woman’s rage.” Mabhureza is not the only victim of a nasty
divorce, many Zimbabwean men in the UK pay for their divorces with their time
in prison.
Zimbabwean men have been accused of sexual offences by
their wives as a weapon to get rid of them or as a result of anger. The law is
mostly abused as courts are quick to believe a fake rape victim than the man.
Some Zimbabwean men have seen their dreams of prosperity
tumbling down like a sand castle as they are bundled into police cars and
eventually taken to prison over false accusations from their wives. In many
British prisons, there are some Zimbabweans doing time for offences they never
committed.
Some are serving harsh sentences for actions which were not
theirs and will not otherwise constitute a crime back home.
Some are found on the wrong side of the bed and are paying
for being men. But, yes, some are on the other side of the law for doing what
every Zimbabwean would naturally do back home. As a result, there is a rise of
Zimbabweans in British jails.
One possible explanation for the rise is that there are now
more Zimbabwean women in the UK are turning to the justice system to settle
scores. That means Zimbabwean men are in the British prisons, most of them for
something they have not committed.
The media focus on illegal immigrants and deportations
might lead some to think that the Zimbabwean prisoner population increase is
linked to convictions of immigration-related matters.
The Ministry of Justice data shows that between October
2012 and January 2015, there were 20 Zimbabweans out of 178 foreign prisoners
who had been jailed for non-immigration matters.
Between 2017 to 2019 more Zimbabwean men were arrested and
jailed on allegations of rape. Almost in all cases, it was revenge crime.
Besides being victims of their angry bitter partners, some
have been jailed just for being Zimbabweans. Toga Kawadza, not his real name,
was in a shopping mall on a Sunday afternoon.
A young girl of six smiled and waved at him. He smiled back
and started playing with the child like every other person would do.
The mother turned and saw this huge black man smiling at
her child. She screamed and in no time, Toga was floored by security officers.
The next thing he was in a police station being charged
with attempted kidnapping and child abuse. He thought it was a joke, but his
world collapsed when he was hauled before the courts and convicted.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison and placed on the
sex offenders register for life. His plea that he was just being friendly and
humane fell on deaf ears. His race did not help at all and if ever he comes out
alive, he will be deported and will be allowed to carry a “changani” bag back
home.
Tonde from Zimbabwe got lost in Luton stopped to ask for
directions. Two boys offered to take him where he was going, so they jumped
into his car and showed him the place. As a true Zimbabwean, he gave the
children £10 as a thank you.
Two days later, he was woken up by dozens of police turning
his house upside down.
They arrested him for being a paedophile, and brought the
£10 note he gave the two boys as exhibit. In no time, he was facing an
all-white jury and was locked up for 15 years.
Negative stereotyping is one of the reasons for the
disproportionate representation of Zimbabweans at all stages of the criminal
justice system in the UK.
They are more likely to be stopped and searched, more
likely to plead not guilty and more likely to be tried and more likely to be
given unreasonable jail terms.
These disparities are often part of a complex mix of
educational, employment, health and social inequalities that have characterised
many of their lives.
It should be noted that policymakers and politicians
haven’t ‘fully grasped’ the impact of ‘negative stereotyping’ and ‘cultural
difference’.
Most of the Zimbabwean prisoners have said that they are
treated differently because of their race, ethnicity or culture.
Blacks are stereotyped as drug dealers, especially those
who wear dreadlocks. Could it be that negative stereotypes and institutional
discrimination, or sheer innocence as it’s referred to, is fuelling the
increase in Zimbabweans being arrested?
Complacency in Zimbabweans abroad has made the British
government utterly clueless about the growing Zimbabwean population. It should
be noted that some Zimbabweans are in the UK ride on South African, Malawian or
Botswana passports.
The Ministry of Justice says the government is committed to
ensuring the criminal justice system is “fair, inclusive and impartial, and
represents and serves the whole community”.
In a statement, the department said: “Each prison has a
multi-faith chaplaincy team to meet the religious and pastoral needs of all
faiths, including Muslims, and we expect every prisoner to engage in purposeful
work and rehabilitation to give them the opportunity to turn away from crime
for good.”
But the issue is Zimbabweans face adaptation challenges and
are more often blinded by their culture and are prone to offend.
Few would disagree with that. In fact, the re-offending
rates of Zimbabwean prisoners are already substantially lower than others.
But it seems we’ve only just started understanding the
reasons so many are locked up in the first place.
Madzibaba Herbert was employed as a bus driver in Croydon.
He was told by the ‘spirit’ at masowe that he needs to carry some holy stones
and a knife to attack the evil spirits.
During his lunch hour, he sat in his bus and prayed. After
his prayers, he put his stones on the dashboard and started waving his knife in
the air in a gesture of attacking the evil spirits. A workmate called the
police.
Herbert was arrested when he explained that the spirit gave
him the holy stones and the holy knife, the police referred him to a mental
health institution. The more he tried to explain, the more he was found to be
insane.
Some years ago, two Zimbabwean Adventist nurses, a husband
and wife, were convicted of child abuse and neglect after they made their child
a vegetarian. Following religious lines would not normally be a crime in
Zimbabwe, unless there is a harm to the child.
Dozens of men and women are languishing in prisons for
disciplining their children. Sheer innocence has led many Zimbabweans to
British prisons.
Many men are paying
for being men. The ladies have not stopped plotting against men who threaten to
divorce them. Matrimonial matters have
become one way ticket to prison and a chartered flight back home. Herald [email protected]
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