THE death of a five-year-old girl Andrea Gada, whose parents Charity and Wellington are from Zimbabwe, is now at the centre of British politics, highlighting the controversial UK visa rules.
On December 16 last year, Andrea Gada’s day ended in tragedy when she was hit by a car while crossing a road in a 30 mile/hour built up area.
She was only 50 metres from her home, walking with her dad and eight- year-old brother.
She had probably been as excited as most five-year-olds, looking forward to getting home and sharing her day’s experiences at school with mum and dad.
But that was not to be.
What could have been a private bereavement has now ended up in the media, in politics, highlighting the hypocrisy of some British policies.
Charity Gada, who has no other close relatives in the UK, applied for a visa for her parents and sister to come and grieve with her, as well as pay their last respects to a granddaughter and niece respectively, they only ever met once in August last year when the family travelled to South Africa for a reunion.
However, the three family members were denied entry visas amid some dubious reasons.
This has left not only the Gada family shocked, but many people wondering if the British officials would have done the same if it were a white or British family.
Despite some assurances given by the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament of Eastbourne and Willingdon (where the Gada family lives), Stephen Lloyd, that he would guarantee the grandparents’ return to Zimbabwe, the immigration officials have refused to grant them an entry visa.
Speaking with Andrea’s father, Wellington Gada on the phone, he sounded very distraught as he recounted how his daughter died; how his in-laws have been denied a visa and how their grieving is now turning into a political debate denying Andrea the privacy and dignity that she deserves.
“Our child was hit by a car about 50 metres away from home,” he said.
“I am not going to get into details about how it happened because I may jeopardise a police inquiry, but we are still waiting for an inquest.
“We lost our beloved daughter, and like all grieving parents, we wanted our parents to be here to give us some support as well as for them to pay their last respects.
“We applied for their visa to come here, but the Visa Officer denied them an entry visa, citing flimsy reasons.
“It seems as if they (Home office) use the same template for everyone.
“They cited three reasons why they would not be given the visas.
“That they did not have jobs in Zimbabwe, that they have never been out of Zimbabwe even though they had been to South Africa a few times; and also that the reason of travel was not genuine, imagine, the death of our daughter is insignificant to them, it’s not a genuine reason as far as they are concerned!
“Worse still there is no room for appeal, so once they refuse you a visa, that’s it. “We didn’t want to go the political route or through the media, we wanted to grieve in private, but we want justice for our deceased daughter.
“She deserves some dignity and respect even in death.”
Gada said he is very grateful to the Lib Dem MP, Stephen Lloyd, for showing them some compassion and support during the trying times.
“Our daughter’s body is still in the mortuary,” he said.
“We are going to do everything we can to convince the Home Office to give our parents the visas.
“Our MP is rallying some support from Churches so that they can write letters to the Prime Minister.
“If the Home Office say every case is treated according to its own merit, and that the Visa Officer can exercise his discretion when granting visas, where is the compassion, where is the discretion in Andrea’s death?
“We said to the Home Office that they can put electronic tags on our parents so that they can be forced to return to Zimbabwe; or escort them to the airport to make sure they leave; they can make them report to the police regularly to make sure they comply with the visa requirements, or to have the media film our parents’ departure when they leave the country.
“We know it is an election time and all these decisions are political; immigration is at the core of the election campaign and they are ‘punishing’ us to score some political mileage with voters.”
Gada said they will not give up.
They have asked to meet the PM face to face at his official residence (10 Downing Street), probably on Tuesday next week.
“Even meeting the PM is a challenge because of the red tape,” Gada said.
“We want to see the PM himself because as someone who also lost a child, he knows what it feels to lose a child.
“If a child dies from an illness, at least that prepares you, but Andrea’s death was so sudden.”
Prime Minister David Cameron’s son, Ivan, died in 2009 at the age of six.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, he said: “Even though Ivan was very disabled and very ill, it was all just a total shock.
“We had no idea he was going to suddenly die in the way he did…But the person who says to you, ‘There’s a silver lining to all this’, or ‘Some good will come of all this’, you actually want to thump.
“It’s the most annoying thing anybody can possibly say.”
So Prime Minister David Cameron, where is your compassion?
Gada is worried that if the Home Office does not grant an entry visa to his wife’s parents, this can set a very bad precedent for all Zimbabweans and other people facing a similar situation in future.
Meanwhile, people are signing a petition on facebook to the PM and Home Office so that they could grant Andrea’s grandparents and aunt entry visas.