White farmer’s land seized in Zimbabwe as a gift for British doctor

A white Zimbabwean family have been thrown off their farm in handcuffs after a black British doctor was ‘awarded’ the land.

Phillip Rankin and his relatives were forcibly removed from the tobacco plantation under Robert Mugabe ’s land seizure laws.

The farm has been given to Sylvester Nyatsuro – who runs a weight-loss clinic in Nottingham and lives in a £750,000 house in the city.

Dr Nyatsuro, a registered GP, was born in Zimbabwe but have lived in the UK for at least 15 years.

Phillip claims the doctor turned up at his Kingston Deverill farm in September and demanded they leave the property.

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Under the land seizure laws, the state is allowed to strip white people of their land and give it to “indigenous” Africans.

Phillip, 57, slammed the decision to give his land – which he has farmed for 35 years – to a “wealthy British doctor who does not live here”.

His son Barry, 33, added: “We have been turfed off of our land and there is nothing we can do about it. We are devastated.”

Dr Nyatsuro lives with his wife Veronica in a five-bedroom detached property on the outskirts of Nottingham.

Staff at his GP practice in the city said that he was “out” and referred calls to a Harare-based firm of solicitors.

In a statement his lawyer Fungai Chimwamurombe said Phillip had failed to prove he had any legal rights to the farm.

He added: “The Minister of Lands offered our client the land because they believe it is state land. It is up to Mr Rankin to prove otherwise.

“We applied generally for land years back. He was on the waiting list for a long time and and was offered this land on the strength of his application.”