By A Correspondent | A Home Office deportation charter flight to Zimbabwe landed in Harare early Thursday morning with only around one-third of the passengers on board that UK had hoped to remove, after among other things, the ambassador to Zimbabwe’s refusal to sign the travel documents for some suspected to be his close connections. 

Last night was the first mass deportation flight to Zimbabwe in 10 years and the first of a series of planned ‘summer season’ of charter flight deportations to countries that include Vietnam and Jamaica that the Home Office is planning in the coming weeks.

The development was first revealed by ZimEye 3 weeks ago. 

The flight was due to deport 55 people but only 14 took off from Stansted Airport. 

41 remained.

Of those 41, the ambassador to Zimbabwe Christian Katsande refused to sign travel documents for 4.

Of the 37 remaining, 12 of them submitted High Court applications mentioning that circumstances have changed. Some of them had been deportation orders 5 years ago, and is now being enforced now.

Of these 12, is Mr Bryan Mucheriwa who obtained reprieve because the High Court ruled his case must be reviewed due to changes in circumstances.

25 couldn’t travel because where they are being held (Brook House Detention Centre) there was a COVID outbreak.

A deportation order does not expire. It is only cancelled by a successful appeal or court application.

The ambassador’s unusual behaviour comes at a time when a few months ago, there was another standoff when he waged a diplomatic silent war against her majesty’s government that lasted a year. Several Zimbabwean voluntary returnees got stuck in the UK for over a year after ambassador Katsande refused to sign their travel documents, and it had to take media intervention by ZimEye to force him to do it. He was refusing to sign their documents because he wanted the British Govt to title him His Excellency in letters mailed to his office. (WATCH THE DRAMATIC VIDEO MOMENTS HERE).

ZimEye reached ambassador Katsande for a comment and he was still to comment at the time of writing.