Fact-check: Zimbabwe’s embassy evicted from rental London offices?

An image widely shared on social media shows furniture piled outside Zimbabwe’s London embassy, alongside claims that the government has been kicked out of the offices for failing to pay rent. This is false; Zimbabwe’s government owns the building and therefore cannot be evicted. Officials confirmed that the embassy had thrown out office furniture as part of a general “cleaning exercise”.

“Zimbabwe Embassy evicted from their rented building in London for not paying rent. Mnangagwa must go…. What an embarrassment to our nation,” reads the text accompanying the image in a September 26 Facebook post which we’ve archived here.

The photo shows furniture all along the sidewalk in front of the entrance to Zimbabwe House, the country’s embassy in London.

Similar social media posts can be seen shared hundreds of times here and here, further spreading the claim.

The building seen in the photo is indeed Zimbabwe’s London embassy — you can recognise it from images available on Google Maps.