CANBERRA – THE Zimbabwe embassy has said former ambassador Jacqueline Zwambila was “seeking to hoodwink” Australia that her life would be in danger if she returned home.
She has instead left the ambassador’s residence in Red Hill and sought asylum from Australia, where a son and a nephew live.
The embassy said in a statement that Ms Zwambila “might be seeking to hoodwink the Australian authorities and members of the public to believe her concocted allegations of political persecution”.
It was most unfortunate to hear such falsehoods, it said, from a person who once held an esteemed position in government.
“That she chooses to denigrate her own government and country for sheer political expediency smacks of the highest order of dishonesty.”
The statement said the mother of three received “a generous salary, allowances and other privileges” during the almost four years she was ambassador. Her term had expired on January 1.
“She was well aware that her tour of duty would end upon the expiry of her employment contract, the embassy said.
“It is therefore surprising that her life suddenly became in danger after she had been recalled back home” with 19 other ambassadors ending their terms.
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Ironically, it said, “she was a regular visitor to Zimbabwe”.
Ms Zwambila is one of three ambassadors among the 20 recalled who were appointed when Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change was in government. She was an active supporter of the MDC, and remains a member of the party, which is now in opposition, the only member of any party at the embassy, its statement said.
She described the government that she represented until this week as being “illegitimate” since July 31, when, she says, veteran President Robert Mugabe “stole” the national election. The embassy asked why Ms Zwambila continued to serve as a representative of “an illegitimate government” for more than five months after that election.
She has been joined, in refusing to return, by Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Germany, Hebson Makuvise, who is believed to be closely related to Mr Tsvangirai.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has said any application for asylum would be considered on its merits.
– The Australian
