The High Court has overturned a refugee status refusal for a man who says he was a self-employed gold miner in Zimbabwe before fleeing because a machete gang was looking for him.
The man went before an International Protection Appeals Tribunal (Ipat), which in 2023 refused his application for refugee/international protection status.
The tribunal said his claim lacked “general credibility”. It said this finding was based on what it said were inconsistencies in the detail of his claim for protection given at an oral hearing compared to what he had outlined at earlier stages in the process.
The man then brought judicial review proceedings but, due to circumstances beyond his control, the case was outside the time limit for doing so and he had to apply for an extension of time.
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Mr Justice Garrett Simons overturned the Ipat decision, saying it was vitiated by an error of law and extended time for the bringing of the case.
The judge said the man had told the International Protection Office in 2022 that he “ran away from Zimbabwe as I was being looked for by the machete gang”, who accused him of sponsoring the activities of an opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
He said the gang also wanted 500g of gold from him and he feared for his life. The gang has terrorised, killed and stolen from people throughout the country, he said, but nothing has been done to them.
He said that after he ran away, they threatened his wife and children, who themselves ran away to his in-laws. Their homestead was burned down, he said.
While he sympathised with the MDC, he said he did not belong to any political party as he knows the dangers associated with doing so. He believes the gang belongs to the ruling Zanu PF party because if you try to bring them to justice, nothing is done.
He said he had worked hard in gold mining to support his family.
He said he told immigration officials later in 2022 that the day he left, he got a phone call from a fellow gold miner who told him the gang were looking for him and wanted 500g of gold he had.
At his Ipat interview, the man further stated that in the days after he left Zimbabwe, he received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as a sergeant in the Zimbabwean police force. The man told him to present himself at a police station for questioning.
He said this event reinforced his suspicions of, and a belief in, a dangerous and harmful link between the gang and the state and police.
The Ipat expressed concerns over inconsistencies in “central aspects” of his claim and the introduction of “significant new claims”. It refused his appeal.
In his ruling overturning that decision, the judge said the Ipat failed to properly apply the principles governing the assessment of the man’s general credibility.
