X Factor's Gamu Nhengu, te BBC and the truth

A week or so back the BBC, especially Radio 5Live, were obsessing over the decision to send X Factor entrant Gamu Nhengu back to Zimbabwe because her mother's visa had expired. The usual suspects decried this decision; why should Gamu not be allowed to stay and work in the UK. A spokesman for the UK Council for immigrants Interests (or something along those lines) seemed reluctant to explain who he would not think should stay in the country. But in particular we were told how Gamu would face danger persecuton should she ever returned to the land of her birth. So I was surprised to read in The Mail that

' X Factor reject Gamu Nhengu is likely to be turned down – after it emerged that she has enjoyed holidays in Zimbabwe.'

Apparently despite the fact that

'The talented 18-year-old has tearfully claimed that she will face a ‘firing squad’ if she is forced to return to the country under Robert Mugabe’s regime.

...

sources in Zimbabwe say that, since arriving in Britain as a young girl, she has made return visits to the country to see relatives, with the most recent trip being just ‘a couple of years ago’.'

So why have the BBC decided not to report this latest twist to the story of Gamu?

Bearing in mind The Mail telling us that:

'Miss Ngazana allegedly claimed £16,000 in benefits she was not entitled to for Gamu and her brothers Milton, 12, and Marty, ten.

Under immigration law, the family is not entitled to appeal.

The only option left open to Miss Nhengu is to claim asylum in the UK – but she will be at a disadvantage because she has already lived in Britain for seven years on a visa without telling officials she fears persecution in her homeland.'

Who would like to bet against her being allowed to stay in this country.


I must declare a complete lack of interest in the X-Factor, I have never watched it and would rather extract my own teeth than do so now.