Dausi, Immigration chief in deportation fiasco
Minister of Homeland Security Nicholas Dausi and Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services director general Masauko Medi have been taken to court over a deportation order issued to Blantyre-based South African businessperson Wayne Thomas James.
The minister issued the deportation order on January 11 2020 which James is challenging in court for lacking basis and “violating his constitutional right to be heard and to be accorded lawful procedure”.
Medi alongside his deputy Fletcher Nyirenda are, on the other hand, facing arrests for contempt of court after they defied a stay order granted by the High Court on January 12 2020 stopping Dausi’s deportation order.
Medi and Nyirenda defied the court order after they instructed Malawian Airlines not to allow James to board their plane from South Africa to Malawi on January 30 2020 after the court had stopped the deportation order.
However, James, his wife Shaunez and their three children returned to Malawi yesterday through Chileka Airport in Blantyre after the High Court made fresh orders last weekend.
High Court judge Rowland Mbvundula instructed Medi and Nyirenda and their servants and agents to clear with all airlines servicing flights into the country to allow James and his family to book the flights, check in and board at all airports in South Africa and travel to Malawi.
Speaking in an interview on arrival, James said he was picked from his residence in Blantyre around 5.30pm on January 11 2020 by eight immigration officers and kept overnight at Chilomoni Police before being deported the following morning.
His lawyer Kuleza Phokoso said he was delighted that the rule of law had finally prevailed.
Phokoso said Dausi’s deportation order did not specify James’ crime as it only indicated he was a threat to public security, public order and public health.
“For us it came at a very suspicious moment considering that there is already a wrangle in the High Court Commercial Division where James sued some business people who are trying to take over his company without proper payment. So, we thought the reasons for deportation needed to be interrogated properly in a court of law,” he said.
James and his wife, among others, own Affordable Glass and Aluminum Company in Blantyre which they sold and they are fighting with the buyers over payments.
The case is coming for full trial in March this year . Dausi and Medi were not available for comment yesterday when contacted.
