New Zimbabwe
June 22, 2015
BATTERED and bruised, a pensioner who fears for her life in Zimbabwe is urging the British government to allow her and husband Gerry to move back to England.
Sandra De Klerk, 75, is fighting to get her husband Gerry, 80, a UK visa after the couple were brutally assaulted during two break-ins at their home in Harare.
Traumatised and living in fear, the couple are desperate to move back to Stroud, a market town in Gloucestershire.
But Mr De Klerk has a Zimbabwean passport, making it difficult for the couple to secure a visa.
To ensure family migrants can stand on their own feet financially, Government rules mean that Mrs De Klerk must provide evidence that she has an annual income of at least £18,600 or that the couple have cash savings of at least £62,500.
Because of the collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar in the 1990s, the pair’s combined retirement savings were lost.
Unable to raise the money required, the couple have found themselves stranded in Zimbabwe.
The couple met in Zambia in 1969 and married in Stroud in 1976 before settling in Harare.
They have since suffered several break-ins but last year two men gained entry into the house and attacked the couple, knocking Mr De Klerk to the ground and strangling Mrs De Klerk, demanding money.
“I was beaten and threatened with death until I told them where there was some money,” she said.
“They took over $1,000, credit cards passports and items of jewellery.”