It is clear that some Zimbabweans who have settled here are unrepentant Mugabe supporters who are in Britain only because they have destroyed Zimbabwe and seek new fields to loot.
While the Vigil is busy challenging a a British GP who is trying to take over a farm in Zimbabwe weourselves are under siege from a determined group who are seeking to profitfrom the asylum industry. They are trying to hijack our brand for their ownpurposes and have ready allies in deceitful online outfits such as Zimeye.com.
At a meeting of the Zimbabwe Action Forum (ZAF) after the Vigil we discussed the problem of dodgy legal representatives feeding off vulnerable asylum seekers. One person who callshimself ‘Dr Masimba Mavaza’ was mentioned by several people. Elementary checks on the man described by Zimeye as ‘one of the UK’s best immigration lawyers’ revealed the following: 19 January 2011 STATEMENT FROM THE OFFICE FOR JUDICIAL COMPLAINTS – ‘MR MASIMBA MAVAZA A spokesperson for the Office for Judicial Complaints said: “Mr Masimba Mavaza, a magistrate appointed to the Corby Bench, failed to inform the Advisory Committee of his arrest for fraud by false representation. A conduct investigation by the local Advisory Committee found that Mr Mavaza had not demonstrated the qualities of good character and sound judgment and recommended that he should be removed from the magistracy. As a result, the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice have removed Mr Mavaza from the magistracy.’ (http://judicialconduct.judiciary.gov.uk/documents/Magistrate_Mr_Masimba_Mavaza_-_OJC_Investigation_Statement_0111.pdf).
The Vigil is not an asylum organisation but it advises supporters pursuing asylum cases to use only legal advisors recommended by our friends, the Zimbabwe Association, a registered charity which has long experience in this field. For their contact details see ‘Refugee Information’ in the left hand menu on the front page of our website.
Talking about legal affairs, we notice that the wife of Nottingham GP Dr Sylvester Nyatsuro is happy to splash out money on lawyers in an attempt to muzzle the media about Dr Nyatsuro’s attempt to take over a farm in Zimbabwe which was bought in the 1980s by a Zimbabwean citizen Philip Rankin. We notice that a report on thesiege of the farm by Mrs Nyatsuro and her thugs has been dropped from the website of the British Daily Telegraph. However the article is available on our website, see: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/vigil-news/campaign-news/732-british-doctor-with-links-to-robert-mugabe-seizes-white-farm–oct-14-2015. The British Times newspaper also published the story. It still appears on theirwebsite but with the disclaimer: ‘This article is the subject of a legal complaint from Mrs Veronica Nyatsuro’.
Despite the Nyatsuros’ legal threats, which many of our supporters have experienced, we would like to let them know that we will be outside their clinic again on Friday 13th November to inform Dr Nyatsuro’s patents of his appalling greed as a British citizen in seeking to dispossess a Zimbabwean citizen of his legally bought farm when the GP has no apparent intention himself of going there to work the land.
Other points
- At the Vigil today we marked eight months since the abduction by state intelligence agents of the Harare human rights activist Itai Dzamara. Sister Bev Mutadiro led prayers for him and remembered particularly his wife and children.
- Wednesday 11th November marks the 50th anniversary of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the Smith colonial government in Rhodesia. They were afraid of blacks eventually taking power so broke their links with Britain. Rose and Dennis Benton, who helped start the Vigil and have attended ever since were close observers of these events. Dennis explains in an article on the Vigil campaigns page why they became involved in the Vigil. See Apologia UDI: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/vigil-news/campaign-news/731-50th-anniversary-of-udi.
- Thanks to Humphrey Dube and Emmaculate Tshuma for arriving early to help set up.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.Â
FOR THE RECORD: 29 signed the register.
Post published in: Featured