Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Britons from Zim rehoused in Epping Forest

Britons from Zim rehoused in Epping Forest
Nancy Pasipanodya
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:35:00 +0000

BRITONS who are being resettled in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Gordon Brown are to be rehoused in the Epping district, that council has announced. The authority has agreed to initially put aside five homes for British citizens who have been urged to leave Zimbabwe - a move seen as racist and segregationist.

The scheme is part of the U.K. government's so-called "Zimbabwe Resettlement Programme", with which dozens of councils across South East England have been asked to help.

The British government says that those aged over 70, or young people unable to look after themselves without support, are eligible to be rehoused.

An Epping Forest council spokesman said the project would be entirely funded by central government, and that the five homes on offer were difficult to let bedsits and flats in sheltered housing schemes which the authority has otherwise been unable to fill.

The council will receive £3,000 for each property to pay for furniture, £1,500 in resettlement support for each household, along with the prospect of more payments in future, should they be needed.

The Government is now being notified after the council agreed earlier this week to take part, but no timetable has been drawn up yet for when people will start moving in.

Around 3,000 British citizens aged 70 or over, and in need of care, are thought to be currently living in Zimbabwe.

The U.K. Government has been advising residents to leave the country since 2007, but the resettlement policy was only announced earlier this year.

The Zimbabwean government says this is a racist move by the British government.

"This is a racist policy that is meant to support only a few white Zimbabweans and not the rest of the Zimbabwean population," says a Zimbabwe government official who requested anonymity.

"Britain has imposed crippling sanctions on Zimbabwe and is leaving Black pensioners to suffer and repatriating white British passport holders. This is blatant racism," added the official.

With the new inclusive Government in power, the economy in Zimbabwe is beginning to stabilise; but Britain has not reversed the policy.

Labels: UK

posted by MrK @ 4:10 PM