(Last Updated on October 19, 2015 by Editor)
ZIMBABWE – Activists from the Zimbabwe Vigil in London have called on the British government to expel Dr Sylvester Nyatsuro, a Zimbabwe-born black British doctor who is attempting to seize a farm in Zimbabwe.
Last week Dr Nyatsuro, 45, who was born in Zimbabwe but now runs a slimming clinic in Willows Medical Centre in Carlton, hired a gang to invade Phillip Rankin’s tobacco farm after claiming Robert Mugabe’s government had granted him ownership of the property.
The Vigil said the latest incident exposed the ‘hypocrisy’ of Zimbabwean exiles who are given refuge in the UK and then go on to participate in growing “Zanu PF activities in Britain. The pressure group is also planning a demonstration at his clinic in Nottingham.
“One suggestion was that the doctor should be asked what his attitude would be if his clinic was seized by an ‘indigenous’ British person connected to the governing Conservative party at a day’s notice without compensation (he would be allowed to take his stethoscope away with him). Details of the demonstration will follow in the next few days,” the Vigil said.
The pressure group has also sent a letter to the Nottingham North and East Clinical Commissioning Group of the National Health Service informing them of what they called the “lawless attempt being made by a Nottingham GP to seize a farm in Zimbabwe.”
“Dr Sylvester Nyatsuro of the Willows Medical Centre in Church Street, Carlton, and his wife Veronica, apparently the practice manager, visited the farm near Harare last month and ordered out the owner Philip Rankin.
“Dr Nyatsuro claimed that the Zimbabwean authorities had told him he could have the farm, even though he had been resident in England for the past 13 years.
“Mr Rankin has since then been besieged in his farmhouse, threatening the ruin of his tobacco crop worth up to £240,000. He obtained a High Court order on 12th October banning the invaders from the property but the following day Mrs. Nyatsuro was back with a busload of reinforcements, in defiance of the High Court,” the Vigil letter read.
“Mr Rankin bought the farm after Independence with the consent of the Mugabe authorities but since then they have encouraged the takeover of white-owned farms without compensation. This has led to the collapse of agriculture and growing poverty.
“The Zimbabwe Vigil urges the Commissioning Group to investigate this matter and take appropriate action. We understand that Dr Nyatsuro came to the UK in 2003 when the farm seizures were at their height and has become a British citizen.
“We are sending copies of this to the General Medical Council and the Department of Health as well as the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
“When the Vigil sends a copy of this letter to the Home Office we will also tell them that we wish to withdraw our support for the asylum application of one individual. We will explain that since our support letter was written two years ago it has become clear that this person does not share our aims,” the pressure group said.
The Zimbabwe Vigil has been demonstrating at the Zimbabwe embassy in London every Saturday for over 13 years with the aim of shining a spotlight on the oppressive regime of Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF in Zimbabwe.