Ephraim was speaking after some 50 Zimbabwean exiles and supporters demonstrated during the week outside the clinic in Nottingham run by Dr Sylvester Nyatsuro who has been in the UK more than 10 years and has been given British citizenship. The activists displayed posters reading: ‘Down with farm looter Dr Nyatsuro’, ‘No to Mugabe supporters in UK’, ‘Dr Nyatsuro: closet racist’ and ‘Stop farm lootings in Zimbabwe’.
Ephraim accused Dr Nyatsuro of hypocrisy in trying to grab a farm from a white Zimbabwean farmer. In an interview with Voice of America he said that Dr Nyatsuro’s British citizenship must be revoked. ‘You can’t have it both ways. No to cronyism and no to tourism farming.’ Ephraim said the demonstrators would be back again unless Dr Nyatsuro dropped his attempt to steal the farm (see: http://www.voazimbabwe.com/content/zimbabweans-protest-over-doctors-attempt-to-take-over-white-farmers-land/3026371.html). Ephraim was also video-interviewed at the demonstration by Sally Mutseyami (see: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-jNDrZYdjg2Q2FYekdhT2ZKLWc/view?ts=563245a3).
Dr Nyatsuro’s wife Veronica, who is related to Grace Mugabe, is the clinic’s practice manager and angrily ordered one of the protesters off her property when he started handing out leaflets. She didn’t seem to have much grasp of property rights as he was on the pavement. He advised her to call the police which she did. Unfortunately for her the police didn’t support her effort to claim ownership of the pavement.
The demonstrator put up the following notice outside the entrance to the clinic: ‘Dr Nyatsuro: I am a white indigenous British citizen. Leave this clinic within 24 hours because I want it. I am not a doctor but you are not a farmer. Ask your relative Mugabe for compensation.’
The day before the demonstration someone calling herself Margaret Magwedi and sounding very much like Mrs Nyatsuro had phoned the people listed in the media release publicising the demonstration. She said she was from an organisation called ‘the Zimbabwe pressure group’ and wanted to attend the demonstration but was phoning us to advise that it was illegal and that the white farmer involved had gone to court and withdrawn his allegations and apologised.
A voice message from her reads: ‘I want to check what legal background do we have? Mr Rankin withdrew the allegations that he is locked up in the house and can’t get his medication and that people had come again. He has withdrawn those allegations from the high court and agreed to lying and paying the court costs. If we demonstrate it will be defamation of character of an innocent person. Not saying you shouldn’t do it but I just want you to look into that and speak to Mr Rankin and find out exactly what’s happening because you don’t want to be used to do something you shouldn’t be doing. And also might need to talk to the lawyers representing Mr Rankin. They will tell you there is no information. Because everyone now is shivering because they are being sued left right for defamation of character. The allegations were not true they were false. You might need to talk to your people – not saying you shouldn’t do it but try to find more information.’
We checked with people in Zimbabwe involved and these comments were exposed immediately as lies. The civil rights campaigner Ben Freeth responded by email: ‘Well done with all you are doing. I think you just need to tell the Nyatsuros that all they need to do is withdraw their thugs and allow Phil Rankin to farm. All Phil wishes is to be left in peace to farm. In a similar situation some time ago an American doctor with Zim roots tried to take De Rus farm in Chegutu. Her practice in the States suffered terribly at the outcry – until she withdrew any claim to the farm and completely backed off. All the very best for tomorrow!’  After further checks Ben emailed: ‘They had a bad morning this morning with the Nyatsoro’s paid thugs getting very abusive. There are about 15 or so of them.   All Phil wants is to farm in peace. Presumably all the Nyatsoros want to do is do their slimming in peace too?’ (The clinic runs a slimming programme.)
After the protest Deidre Rankin communicated with our Facebook page as follows:
- Deidre Rankin: How did the protest go today. Seems various other tactics are now being used to get the farm… Plse speak to Ben for updates. Keep up the good work . . . and thank you.
- Zimbabwe Vigil: Hi Deidre. We just posted a demo report on the page wall. If you need any more info, please let us know. Will be sure to speak to Ben about any updates.
- Deidre Rankin: TATENDA to you all. Our family really appreciates your support against blatant racism in our beloved Zimbabwe.
- Zimbabwe Vigil: Thanks Deidre. Very happy to support you and your family.
- Deidre Rankin: You have been wonderful. The thugs are still there and really partied last night. But we are hopeful that the matter will be resolved somehow. I believe a journalist received threatening calls about defamation as some of you also did. Thanks again.
The incident confirms the Vigil’s fears that Zanu PF has become emboldened by the ease with which it can operate in the UK, where the Parliamentary leader of the popular Green Party, Caroline Lucas, is on record praising Mugabe.
The group we believe are working for Zanu PF to disrupt the Vigil were back again today. Known by our supporters as the Zanu Vigil we took some pictures of them and their expensive new car which can be seen on our flickr page labelled Zanu PF Disruption Vigil: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/albums/72157660585079622. The photos of the actual Vigil can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/albums/72157660199555610.
The disrupters haven’t bothered us recently but we suppose they are back because they have been infuriated by the wide publicity given to our Nottingham protest. We are writing to the police to distance ourselves from the aggressive way they importuned the public. The Zanu PF Vigil say they are planning a copycat demonstration at Dr Nyatsuro’s surgery in Nottingham – probably to reassure him of Zanu PF’s support. We ourselves will be back there on Friday 13th November if he hasn’t dropped his attempt to seize the farm by then.
Other Points
- The Vigil was saddened to hear of the sudden death rof a good friend Barnabas Masvaure yesterday. He had been attending the Vigil for years. We were hoping to take a collection for his family but because of the Zanu disruption we were unable to do this. We will take a collection at our next Vigil.
- Thanks to those who came early to help set up: Barbara Kachidza, Bernadety Gumbanjera, Catherine Musa, Chipo Parirenyatwa, Clemence Munyukwi, Emmaculate Tshuma, Ephraim Tapa, Eugenia Mushonga, Farai Gumbanjera, Fungayi Mabhunu, Grace Rukure, Mncedisi Ndlovu, Pearl Shambare and Sharon Moyo. Thanks to Sharon for looking after the front table throughout the Vigil. Thanks also to those who stayed to the end to help pack up: Catherine Musa, Chipo Kamhunga, Dennis Benton, Ephraim Tapa, Flemming Diza, Fungayi Mabhunu, Ishmael Makina, Jean Kawara, Jeremy Mupeti, Lipi Mhlope, Patricia Masamba, Rashiwe Bayisayi, Rose Benton and Sharon Moyo.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.
FOR THE RECORD: 31 signed the register.
Post published in: Africa News
This doctor and his wife should be put on the same blacklist that Mugabe and his cronies are on.
This situation is bizarre but look …. For generations the great white tribe of Southern Africa treated black folk like shit … Forceable took their land deprived them of just about every human right in book including education & the right to vote you name it….sat back while they lived in poverty & now we are somehow claiming the moral high ground……
and so did the whole world
I’m sure you’re right
We all agree that there were many injustices in the past, but as my late mother used to say “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Before “independence, Zimbabwe was known as the bread basket of Africa. Now it cannot even support itself. The indiscriminate invasion and dispossession of white farmers is the main contributor!
I’m sure your Mother was a very nice Lady but she may have felt differently if the ” shoe had been on the other foot ” so to speak …. Best regards
Shit…you are clueless.
Oh is that so ? In what way exactly?
Not that old biased and factually incorrect argument. I bet you have visited the Apartheid Museum in Jo’burg and got yourself very excited over the ‘injustice’?
Yeh I can highly recommend it & Freedom Park in Pretoria but that’s not where my opinions came from.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
You will have to wake up soon my friend … Like it or not
another clueless libtard apologist for black atrocities – go back to The Guardian!
Hahaha Slop you’re funny
Nowhere in the world can you be prosecuted for something that ancestors did. Additionally, in South Africa it matters not whether they were even your ancestors who committed crime or atrocities, the kangaroo court of the country merely observes that you share a similar skin tone resemblance to declare you guilty.
To apply that mindset is to demonstrate your shallow depth of empathy, while at the same time you demonstrate your lack of historical knowledge of South Africa by making ridiculous blanket statements and talking about a great white tribe!?
Nowhere in the world can you be prosecuted for something that ancestors did. Additionally, in South Africa it matters not whether they were even your ancestors who committed crime or atrocities, the
kangaroo court of the country merely observes that you share a similar skin tone resemblance to declare you guilty.
To apply that mindset is to demonstrate your shallow depth of empathy, while at the same time you demonstrate your lack of historical knowledge of South
Africa by making ridiculous blanket statements and talking about a great white tribe!?
I think you mean persecuted not prosecuted am I right ? …James you talk about ” ancestors ” as though we are travelling back to a time in the dim and distant pasts ….i have no idea how old you are but I spent the first 50 years plus of my life in Pretoria and can assure you that the crimes / atrocities you refer to were still going on through the 1980’s …..I can start listing them for you if you would like me to but you would find it far more informative to sit down with a person of colour and ask them what their life was like prior to the first democratic election when Nelson Mandela became President .
These days it’s difficult to find anyone that will admit to previously being a consistent National Party voter but I can assure you there were plenty …
I most certainly have empathy with individuals involved here both those in the past & those facing the current difficulties ….you say that I lack historical knowledge …..that’s interesting may be you can put me on the right track there …..I make no apologies for the description White tribe of Africa and include myself.
Quite clearly I meant prosecuted, as persecution of this nature happens on a daily basis. Just the other day, the ANC parliament members voted in a new land reform bill, attempting to legalize the seizure of land. In my opinion, that is prosecution and persecution wrapped up in one.
Also Martin, you’re attempting to deconstruct my sentences in a way that has no meaning? Try see the meaning in what I’m saying. I’m making a factual statement that you cannot punish the sons of sinners. You are trying to have us believe that each and every other white person was a vehement NP supporting racist. That clearly wasn’t the case when I was growing up, but then again you lived on the other side of the country, something quite different from Cape. My point is really about the way that this racism has become institutional yet again, and instead of being appalled by it, here you are supporting it, from afar. I shouldn’t need to explain to you that I nor my family were involved in any racist activity, and why I should now have to suffer because some people did, is not acceptable.
I’m not old enough to be a supporter of the NP, yet I was quite leaving junior school by about the time the power changed hands.
My inference of your historical knowledge may perhaps be incorrect, but you at least foreshadow all the good impacts whites and europeans have had on the country in favour of demonizing us. And it would seem you consider whites as a culture group and forget the many, many, many differences between the cultures and ethnicity among them. Whites don’t act like a tribe, so to assume a great white tribe completely distorts the reality of the situation with a major and flawed oversimplification.
Don’t mistake my disgust for those who encountered actual racist violence and maltreatment. It is purely for those who are trying to take something that doesn’t belong to them. I have a great deal of sympathy for those that did suffer under the apartheid centered government and its supporters, but I don’t think that cutting off our nations food supply in order to give land to elites and those who can’t farm it is helping anyone, do you?
Quite clearly I meant prosecuted, as persecution of this nature
happens on a daily basis. Just the other day, the ANC parliament members voted in a new land reform bill, attempting to legalize the seizure of land. In my opinion, that is prosecution and persecution wrapped up in one. These are new precedents being set in front of your eyes, and they don’t make much sense.
Also Martin, you’re attempting to deconstruct my sentences in a way that has no meaning? Try see the meaning in what I’m saying.
I’m making a factual statement that you cannot punish the sons of
sinners. You are trying to have us believe that every other white person was a vehement NP supporting racist and your conclusion seems to be that we should all be treated as though we were. That clearly wasn’t the case when I was growing up, but then again you lived on the other side of the country, something quite different from the Cape. My point is really about the way that this racism has become institutional yet again, and instead of being appalled by it, here you are in some sense supporting it, from afar. Perhaps you’ve fallen for the false figures that get put out time and time again, which is why you agree with the idea of land reform. Those figures, need to be looked into because the way in which they were deduced and the way we’re told to think about them, tell another story about what’s going on here.
I shouldn’t need to explain to you that I nor my family were involved in any racist activity, and why I should now have to suffer because some people did, is not acceptable. Apartheid came after savage, bloody war were thousands were slaughtered. There was a rise to it. People were
afraid and they were motivated to support it by what they were seeing happen between the black tribes. The country has a lot of history that led to it, problems we don’t face on nearly the same level today.
I’m not old enough to be a supporter of the NP, yet I was leaving junior school by about the time the power changed hands. So it makes me probably half your age. My inference of your historical knowledge may perhaps be incorrect, but you at least foreshadow all the good impacts whites and Europeans have had on the country by demonizing us the way you are. You may be willing to accept responsibility, and that’s great if you have guilt, but please don’t make me do the same. I am not guilty of this way of thinking and neither are a great many other white South Africans.
It would seem you consider whites as a culture group and
forget the many, many, many crucial differences between the cultures and ethnicities among them. There is no great white or black tribe, the only string you can pull that sentence together the word white, so to assume a great white tribe completely distorts the reality of the situation with a major and flawed oversimplification.
Don’t mistake my disgust for those who encountered actual racist violence and maltreatment. It is purely directed at those who are trying to take something that doesn’t belong to them because they claim they were disenfranchised. I have a great deal of sympathy for those that did suffer under the apartheid centered government and its supporters and agree they should be supported, but I don’t think that cutting off our nations food supply in order to give land to black elites and those who can’t farm it is helping anyone, do you? Have you seen the pictures of what happens? We aren’t dealing with reasonable people here, we are dealing with left-wing-infused ideologies.
I don’t give credence to the understandings and values of under-educated, and desperate people when it comes to making decisions on behalf of everyone. We look at the facts objectively, we look at the history, objectively. We see who’s to blame, and they get the blame. We don’t spread it out as far and wide as possible and make everyone suffer in the process of breaking the functioning system to pieces. Not unless we want to die as a country.
Doctor? I wonder if the UK authorities have checked his qualifications to source?
& your point is ?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
This story REALLY exposes the whole farm hijacking episode in Zim for what it is: pure racist BS to steal farms. As long as the claimant’s skin is BLACK, the Mugabe thugs will push it through, no matter if its now for a “british” citizen or not. This thug