July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is adding three new seats to the Supreme Court, the state-run Herald reported on Friday, by appointing three judges seen as stalwarts of the ruling party.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said that the additional judges were needed to handle litigation by white farmers "who are contesting and indeed frustrating the government's land reform program", in a statement quoted by the Herald.

White farmers, through the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), have already won a Surpreme Court ruling declaring the violence-wracked land reforms unconstitutional, but individual farmers continue to press claims to retain their farms.

Chinamasa did not say when the new judges - Misheck Cheda, Vernanda Ziyambi and Luke Malaba - would take the bench.

Under Zimbabwean law, Mugabe has unrestricted powers to appoint judges or to expand the size of the bench. His appointments are reviewed only by the Judicial Services Commission, which is also filled with Mugabe appointees.

"The real reason for the new appointments is an attempt to further ZANU-ize the judiciary in this country," said Tendai Biti, a leading constitutional lawyer and an MP from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

He was referring to Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

"Fortunately the men and women who have been appointed are men and women of integrity," Biti said. "The intended subordination of the Supreme Court through the appointment of judges who are perceived as sympathetic to the Mugabe regime is not going to succeed."

International legal groups have criticized the government for making threats against judges and their families earlier this year.

Former chief justice Anthony Gubbay went into early retirement after Chinamasa reportedly told him the government could no longer guarantee his safety. He was replaced with a judge widely seen as pro-government.

Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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