KENT,
United
Kingdom
–
A
Zimbabwean
pro-democracy
activist
who
described
surviving
gunshots
and
a
year
jailed
as
a
political
prisoner
has
said
gaining
a
scholarship
for
refugees
at
a
UK
university
gave
him
“hope
in
a
hopeless
place”.
Makomborero
Haruzivishe
said
he
was
an
“ordinary”
19-year-old
student
when
he
joined
the
University
of
Zimbabwe
to
study
psychology
in
2011,
but
his
activism
over
education
rights
and
corruption
led
to
him
being
arrested
37
times,
banned
from
university,
tortured,
imprisoned
and
nearly
killed.
Speaking
about
his
experiences
at
the
University
of
Kent,
Haruzivishe,
32,
told
the
PA
news
agency
he
is
studying
a
law
and
politics
degree
two
years
after
he
fled
his
home
country
in
the
middle
of
the
night
to
South
Africa.
“Leaving
Zimbabwe,
it
was
painful,”
the
aspiring
barrister
said.
“I
couldn’t
afford
to
say
goodbye
to
my
parents,
to
my
siblings,
to
everyone.
“I
lost
most
of
my
colleagues,
some
of
my
colleagues
were
abducted,
never
to
be
returned.
“And
that
was
the
moment
when
I,
for
the
sake
of
my
life,
I
just
had
to
get
out.”
He
added:
“I
didn’t
know
where
I
was
going,
I
think
what
was
keeping
me
sane
was,
‘no,
I’m
going
to
get
an
opportunity
for
education’.”
The
former
secretary
general
of
the
Zimbabwe
National
Student
Union
(ZINASU)
escaped
the
southern
African
state
after
being
released
from
prison
in
2022,
following
a
public
campaign
from
Amnesty
International
and
advocacy
from
the
House
of
Lords
to
free
him.
Amnesty
International
described
Haruzivishe’s
arrest
and
detention
as
“politically
motivated”
in
a
bid
to
silence
him
and
other
peaceful
political
activists,
including
on
a
charge
of
inciting
violence
during
a
2020
protest
–
by
blowing
a
whistle.
His
memories
of
Zimbabwe
are
of
pain
and
prison,
triggered
by
dirty
toilets
which
remind
him
of
his
time
spent
in
an
overcrowded
cell
with
around
120
inmates
and
one
toilet.
Before
jail,
he
recalled
“living
on
the
edge”,
always
on
the
move
with
other
people
to
decrease
his
chance
of
abduction,
checking
if
he
was
being
followed
and
sleeping
no
more
than
three
hours
a
night
out
of
fear
of
being
attacked.
He
said:
“I
couldn’t
stay
in
one
place
for
like
an
hour.
It
was
just
not
safe.”
“I
had
gunshots
fired
at
me,
I
managed
to
survive,”
he
told
PA,
adding
that
he
was
ambushed
by
a
“hit
squad”
in
four
unmarked
cars
in
Harare,
before
he
was
hooded,
bound
and
dumped
at
a
police
station.
Haruzivishe
said
he
never
intended
to
claim
asylum
in
the
UK,
but
on
a
short
visit
to
meet
parliamentarians
and
activists
from
human
rights
charity
Action
for
Southern
Africa
(ACTSA)
in
London,
he
said
things
got
“really
serious”
with
the
Zimbabwean
government
once
officials
realised
he
had
left
the
country.
“They
were
fuming,
they
were
even
threatening
me
to
send
hitmen
on
me
to
the
UK,”
he
said.
Mr
Haruzivishe
applied
for
asylum
in
February
2023,
and
said
after
handing
in
his
documents
and
attending
screening
appointments,
“I
kind
of
felt
like
a
nobody”.
He
described
being
with
other
asylum
seekers,
adding:
“Different
backgrounds,
different
languages,
sometimes
you
find
yourself
speaking
the
same
language
of
fear
of
‘what
if
I’m
denied
my
asylum
claim,
what
if
they
deport
me?’
“It
was
lucky
because
some
of
my
threats
against
me
were
documented
online.
Without
them,
I
could
not
prove
this
is
my
situation.”
While
living
in
Southend-on-Sea
awaiting
his
asylum
decision,
he
re-met
another
Zimbabwean
activist
who
had
“spent
years”
trying
to
prove
his
asylum
case
to
the
Home
Office
because
of
a
lack
of
physical
evidence.
I
can
tell
you
the
pain
of
being
a
refugee,
how
much
I
yearned
to
just
go
back
home,
be
with
my
parents,
with
my
siblings
–
it
is
not
a
choice
“I
knew
his
life
was
in
danger,”
said
Haruzivishe.
“He
had
nothing
online,
no
documents
of
his
case.”
On
his
own
refugee
status,
which
he
gained
in
October
2023,
Haruzivishe
said
he
was
“relieved”.
Now
he
feels
“really
at
home”
at
the
Canterbury
campus,
working
with
Amnesty
International,
ACTSA
and
other
activist
groups
while
also
working
as
a
kitchen
porter
at
a
restaurant
in
Whitstable,
which
he
finds
“therapeutic”.
He
is
one
of
13
sanctuary
scholars
at
the
university
which
aims
to
help
those
seeking
refuge
in
the
UK
access
higher
education
by
granting
fee
waivers
and
a
bursary
towards
living
costs.
“Life
takes
people
through
different
routes
and
the
route
that
we’re
sanctuary
scholars,
it’s
kind
of
hope
in
a
hopeless
place,
and
we
hold
on
to
that
hope,
come
what
may,”
he
said.
Haruzivishe
wants
to
become
a
“world-class
lawyer”
working
on
economic
law
for
his
career
before
he
hopes
one
day
to
return
to
Zimbabwe.
He
said:
“It’s
our
generation
that
needs
to
rewire
the
social
order
and
economic
order
there.
“Who
knows,
maybe
one
day
become
president.”
On
becoming
a
refugee,
he
said:
“No
one
chooses
to
be
a
refugee.
“I
can
tell
you
the
pain
of
being
a
refugee,
how
much
I
yearned
to
just
go
back
home,
be
with
my
parents,
with
my
siblings
–
it
is
not
a
choice.” The
Independent
Kathryn
