Zimbabwe: White Zimbabwean farming family handcuffed and evicted from land to make way for black British doctor and wife

A family of white Zimbabwean farmers have been evicted from their land after it was handed over to a British doctor who runs a weightloss clinic in Nottingham. The Rankin family, who have farmed tobacco in Zimbabwe for decades, were handcuffed by police and dragged off their land so it could be claimed by Sylvester Nyatsuro

British doctor Sylvester Nyatsuro and his wife Veronica

Dr Nyatsuro, 45, is originally from the African country but has lived in Britain for at least 15 years, and is now in charge of his own GP practice. He and his wife Veronica were allocated the Rankins' farm under Robert Mugabe's controversial land seizure laws which allow the state to take the property of white people and hand it over to 'indigenous' black Africans.

 One of the family members today hit out at the ruling, saying that Zimbabwe's land should be 'for the people of Zimbabwe with nothing, not for wealthy British doctors who do not live here'. Phillip Rankin, 57, has lived at Kingston Deverill farm in the north of Zimbabwe for more than 30 years with his wife Anita and their three children. The size of the tobacco farm has been progressively reduced since Mugabe's land grabs began in 2000, and last year he was told that he must leave the property for good.

 Dr Nyatsuro, who is linked to the Mugabes, apparently turned up at Kingston Deverill in September with a government document saying that he was now the rightful owner of the land. The Rankins refused to leave without being compensated for their property, having recently planted a £300,000 tobacco crop, but two dozen settlers moved into an empty cottage nearby and a warrant was issued for Phillip's arrest.

In the early hours of Friday morning, 20 police officers dug under the fence surrounding the family's home and knocked on the door before carting away most of their belongings. They then handcuffed Mr Rankin and took him to a police station before later releasing him to stay with relatives. His son Barry, speaking from his new home in the capital Harare, today described how the family thought they had 'survived' after they held onto their land in the initial wave of confiscations by the Mugabe regime.

 The 33-year-old father of three hit out against the eviction, saying it 'doesn't make sense' that a wealthy professional who lives in the West should be given property by the government. 'As a family we are absolutely gutted,' Mr Rankin said. 'We have been turfed off of our land and there's nothing we can do about it. We are devastated. 'It was our business - but more important than that, it was our home. We have never owned anything other than the farm and that's gone in one weekend.