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By ALISON BOSHOFF
Worlds apart: X Factor's Gamu has friends in Scotland, but may be sent back to her grandparents in Zimbabwe
Twenty miles outside the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, in the village of Jonas, Gamu’s grandfather Ananias is visibly upset.
Tears well in his eyes. 'It will be a bitter pill to swallow if she is deported,' he says.
The 68-year-old retired head-teacher’s life is a world away from the big money and superficial glamour of TV’s The X Factor.
A donkey cart and rusty pick-up stand in his yard. He and his wife Chipo make ends meet by selling onions and carrots grown in their garden in this tiny bush village.
Although it has been headline news in Britain all week, the elderly couple have not really been following the story of his granddaughter’s heartbreak.
Ananias didn’t know that 18-year-old Gamu was controversially dropped as a contestant in the Saturday night talent show.
The result was national uproar, a 220,000-name Facebook petition demanding her reinstatement, death threats made to X Factor judge Cheryl Cole (who decided not to choose Gamu) and a Home Office inquiry about Gamu’s family’s right to live in Britain.
Now, her mother Noku, who came to Scotland as a nurse to track down a lover who left her with two young children, is fighting to stay in the UK.
As a last resort, she is seeking a judicial review at the Court of Sessions in Edinburgh against the decision which deems them to be illegal immigrants.
The highly-talented Gamu had, until the events of this week, been hoping to study music at Edinburgh University next year having attended an open day earlier this month.
But it now looks as if her pursuit of X Factor fame (which brought her into the public eye) may have cost her and her family everything.
Upset: Gamu's grandparents Chipo and Ananias Ngazana pictured in the yard in Jonas, a village twenty miles outside the Zimbabwean capital of HarareIn addition, there are claims the family are guilty of benefit fraud because her mother wrongly received tax credits worth £16,000 during the eight years that she lived in Britain.
As the holder of a non-EU visa she’s not entitled to any benefits. Indeed, when they first arrived in Britain, she and her children’s passports will have been stamped with the words: 'No recourse to public funds.'
Ordered out: Gamu's mother NokuIf she did, indeed, claim £47.10 a week for her children, it seems an inexplicable oversight by the welfare authorities.
The family’s lawyer argues that Noku was advised by her accountant to apply for working tax credits and was 'told by the Inland Revenue that she was fully entitled' to them.
How bitterly she and Gamu must regret this now. For, although X Factor viewers are accustomed to neatly manufactured stories of contestants' traumas and hardships, the way in which this young girl’s dreams have been crushed is of a different order.
In the streets of Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, around Gamu’s home, crowds of supporters have gathered demanding that she be put back in The X Factor competition and be allowed to stay in the country.
The attention has been so great that the X Factor producers have moved Gamu and her family to a hotel (although, it has to be said, she is now holed up there with the tabloid newspaper which has bought her story).
A petition has also been started by the church where the devout Christian family attend, calling for them to be allowed to stay.
Churchgoer and friend Lidia Weir said: 'We all want the family to stay — they have worked hard and raised their children well. We need more people like them here, not fewer.'
Meanwhile, Gamu remains devastated by events. Last week, before her visa application was denied, she was so grief-stricken by her X Factor snub that she could hardly speak.
She was reported to have clutched at the walls of her flat for support and, at one point, crouched on the floor and seemed to be gasping for breath.
So what is the truth about Gamu and her family?
Gamuchirai Nhengu was born in Jonas outside Harare - an area in Mugabe’s heartland. Her mother, Noku, was a bright student but abandoned her studies when she met an older man and became pregnant with Gamu - much to the disappointment of her parents.
The man (a lawyer) provided financial help for Gamu’s upkeep but died of cancer when she was three.
Dreaming big: Gamu took her mother on stage during an early audition, where she won over legions of fans with her talentMeanwhile, her mother had a fling with another man, by whom she had two sons - Milton and Marty.
Some time after, her lover moved to Britain. She decided to travel to Stirling in Scotland to be with him.
But she left her three young children (by now Gamu was ten, Milton, three, and Marty, one) in Africa to be raised by their grandparents in basic, rural conditions without running water.
However, the relationship between Noku and her lover did not work out. Five years ago, after finishing a course at Stirling University, she sent for Gamu and her sons.
Ever since, she has been working as a nurse, most recently on a home help scheme - assisting vulnerable and elderly members of the community.
Initially, Noku was allowed to stay in the UK under the Fresh Talent scheme, which was set up in 2005 to allow students to remain in the UK and work for two years after their educational course without needing a work permit.
Noku was able to bring her children on the condition that her dependents could 'manage themselves, without help from public funds'. So the family remained in the UK on a two-year visa, which expired in August.
During her time in Scotland, Gamu has grown into a widely loved teenager. It was soon evident that she had a special musical talent. She attended the Alva Academy and friends said her powerful, yet sweet voice often brought the place to a standstill. Crowds would gather in the corridors to listen to her.
Classmate Linzi Harrington, 17, said: 'Her wonderful singing voice made her stand out from the crowd. But, also, she was just a likeable, down-to-earth, person and people took to her. She’d walk about the school singing.'
Academically, Gamu was a straight-A student and popular with teachers and fellow pupils. She took the lead in school and choir productions.
Standing by her decision: Cheryl Cole made a public statement saying the choice to eliminate Gamu was hers alone. She insists she was not aware of the teen's immigration status at the timeShe sang All I Want For Christmas at a school concert, as well as other songs she wrote with her music teacher, David Clifford. She also performed at the annual Praise Gathering concerts in Glasgow and was 16 when she sang her first solo.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that her friends repeatedly urged her to enter The X Factor. She printed off the application form four times before deciding that she ought to finish her studies first. Also, Gamu, who can be quite shy, couldn’t face the auditions.
Claire Harrower, a friend from church, said: 'Gamu’s a breath of fresh air around here - an 18-year-old who actually has her head screwed on.'
The family attends the Hillfoots Evangelical Church in Tillicoultry, where parishioner Lidia Weir, 38, said: 'Gamu and her family attend the church every week. They have contributed to our church, our community and our society. We wish them to remain as a family in Scotland to continue their education, both in school and in university.'
But what are the chances of that? The Home Office says the visa application for Gamu’s family was refused because they wrongly claimed tax credits. There were, however, other complications.
Although the family’s original application for a visa renewal was submitted by their lawyer before the expiry date of the last visa, it was rejected because of 'administrative errors' and had to be resubmitted.
But this meant they were out-of-time as a result, the family was not entitled to a right of appeal.
So was this the real reason why Cheryl Cole didn’t pick Gamu to go through to the final stages of The X Factor - because the show’s producers did not want to get involved in a controversy about one of their contestants' right to live in Britain?
Yesterday, Cheryl herself made a rare public statement, saying: 'The three girls I have chosen to take through to the live shows were chosen by me and Will [rapper Will.i.am] and the final choice, and always is, my decision. I was not aware of Gamu’s situation outside of the competition and I am incredibly sad for both her and her family.'
Home, for now: Gamu lives in a flat in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, with her mother and two brothersHowever, earlier in the week, friends of Cole had insisted that she was furious at being made the scapegoat for the unpopular decision to eliminate Gamu.
Cole has spent the latter half of this week intensively coaching her remaining protegees, as she’s worried that the row means they will be booed on tonight’s live show.
Simon Cowell, meanwhile, denied that X Factor bosses had ordered Cheryl to take the flak for the controversy, but insiders believe that simmering tension remains between the two. He said yesterday: 'No, Cheryl and I haven’t had a fight- yet! - and I certainly couldn’t tell her what to do even if I wanted to.'
He has now thrown his considerable resources behind Gamu - including putting his legal team at her disposal.
A judicial review of Gamu’s family’s visa claim, which their lawyer Frances Farrell seeking, is the one legal route that can allow the family to stay in Britain while their case is processed by the Home Office.
An appeal has been made on the grounds that the decision not to renew the family’s visa was made unfairly and their lawyer has complained that it was announced to the media before the family were told they faced deportation.
So who leaked the story - and why? Could it be that someone who works on The X Factor thought it would make yet another ratings-boosting bit of publicity? If so, it was a deeply cynical move, which has caused maximum distress to Gamu’s family.
In any case, X Factor bosses, including Simon Cowell, accept that they are at least in part responsible for the controversy.
However, the problem remains that if the judicial review does not go the family’s way, any reapplication will have to be submitted from outside the country - so they would have to leave Britain.
However, it seems most unlikely that the family will be forcibly deported because the Home Office regards Zimbabwe as 'unstable'.
Perhaps the last word should go to Gamu’s grandfather. 'I’m told that Gamu is famous now. Sadly, fame is a burden that brings enemies and jealousies.'
What an irony that, standing barefoot in a dusty African backyard, 5,000 miles away and without a TV, this retired headteacher understands the dark side of celebrity so well.
Additional reporting: Jane Flanagan in Capetown and George Mair in Scotland.
source: dailymail [endtext]
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