British doctor involved in Zimbabwean farm grab
October 14, 2015
A British doctor and his wife have joined the relentless onslaught by ruling party officials on Zimbabwe’s few remaining white commercial farmers and are currently involved in the invasion of a tobacco farm north-east of Harare.
For the past month, Dr Sylvester Nyatsuro (45) and his wife, Veronica, have been trying to drive a highly experienced commercial farmer, Phillip Rankin (57) and his wife, Anita, off Kingston Deverill farm in the Centenary district of Mashonaland Central province (see Telegraph report).
Rankin bought the farm in 1983, three years after independence, with the consent of the Mugabe government. Originally he produced high quality irrigated tobacco as well as the country’s staple food crop, maize (corn) and passion fruit. He also farmed cattle and pigs, but the farm has been severely depleted by continual seizures.
Nyatsuro, who was born in Zimbabwe but is believed to have emigrated around 2003, is now a British passport holder. He owns “The Willows” weight loss clinic in Nottingham, England.