Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade acting spokesperson Mr Livit Mugejo said only 14 deportees arrived out of 50 who were expected. Said Mugejo:
The number is now down to 14 due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in some detention centres. Others also successfully raised last-minute objections with the courts and were allowed to appeal their deportations due to what they say changed circumstances.
Government officials at the Airport took the deportees to the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management (ZIPAM) in Darwendale where they will be kept for 10 days before they rejoin their families.
The officials also denied journalists permission to interview, photograph or film their arrival.
Zupco buses escorted by police officers lay in wait for the deportees, driving off once they had taken their seats.
State broadcaster ZBC was the only one given access to film them.
The deportees are a fraction of about five hundred (500) Zimbabweans who are set to be deported from the UK, authorities have said.
The UK is saying it is deporting individuals who were convicted of serious crimes like murder whom the Secretary for the Home department, Priti Patel, says do not have a place in that country.
More: NewZimbabwe; The Herald