Barred From Returning Home Over Minor Cannabis Conviction, UK Home Secretary Excoriated As Racist

Home Secretary Suella Braverman personally intervened to bar a British resident from returning home to the UK after having been out of the country on vacation.

What Happened

Siyabonga Twala was on his way home from a vacation with his parents, two siblings and his nine-year-old son from a family vacation in South Africa this past December. Their flight had a stopover in Turkey. But when he was about to get on the plane, he was prevented from boarding. Twala has been stranded in Istanbul ever since.

"They just pulled me to one side and said we've been informed we can't board you today. That was all they could tell me at that time," he told Reuters.

What Was Twala’s Crime?

Though Twala has not seen a deportation order, he and his lawyer learned his banishment was related to an old conviction for possession of a small amount of cannabis for which he served 4-1/2 months in prison in 2018. 

They also learned that Braverman had personally ordered Twala's exclusion “on the basis of serious criminality.” 

“The secretary of state has personally directed that you should be excluded from the United Kingdom (UK) on the grounds that your exclusion is conducive to the public good,” said a letter from the Home Office to Twala’s lawyer, who called the move a “worrying precedent,” reported The Guardian.

British Politicians Went Even Further: Braverman "Racist Bigot"

Labor MP Diane Abbott said it was “shocking that the home secretary is using an exclusion order in this type of case. This dad, resident in Britain, is not a threat to the general public and Suella must know this. Instead, she is implementing powers meant to be used against serious criminals to permanently exclude this man from Britain with no due process and no right of appeal.”

Twala, 34, who holds South African citizenship, has lived legally in the UK since 2004. His immigration status now hangs in the balance though he has not offended before or since his time served, which is lower than the 12-month threshold that normally triggers automatic deportation.

Meanwhile, Braverman, born in London to Indian immigrants who emigrated to Britain in the 1960s, has often raised the ire of many who view her as a racist.

“Tory MPs, peers and activists have accused Braverman of inflaming racial tensions,” says The Guardian. A former senior minister from Boris Johnson’s government told the Guardian they believed Braverman was a “real racist bigot.”

Photo of Siyabonga Twala, Twitter, The Guardian