The government of Zimbabwe has stepped up pressure on senior members of the judiciary to quit the bench, accusing judges of bias in favour of whites.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court was last week asked to retire early. Two others were approached on Friday following emergency talks of the ruling ZANU-PF party, which passed a vote of no confidence in the judiciary. The last two of the country's senior judges were yesterday awaiting their turn to meet the justice minister.
A cabinet minister and presidential spokesman, Mr Jonathan Moyo, said: "The very system of our national governance is now under threat" from the "partial and biased application of the law by the Supreme Court".
The justice minister, Mr Patrick Chinamasa, accusing the judiciary of bias against the government, last month said: "We must begin to exorcise from all our institutions the racist ghost of Ian Smith [the country's former leader], and we do so by phasing out his disciples and sympathisers."
The former justice minister and now parliamentary speaker, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa, said all judges seen to be working against the executive and legislature in their push for land reforms should go.
"I believe the land issue is a just cause, and if the judges and their foreign backers do not think so, let them make their own judgments, but outside our courts," Mr Mnangagwa said.
Efforts to weed out the judiciary come after a series of Supreme Court verdicts against the government and in favour of white commercial farmers and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"It is now an indisputable matter of public record that the Supreme Court has repeatedly afforded protection . . . almost exclusively to the Commercial Farmers' Union and the MDC opposition political party while repeatedly denying the same to others, especially the landless peasants," said Mr Moyo.
Last year the court issued a series of verdicts against the government's controversial land reforms, attracting criticism and threats from so-called war veterans, who told judges to resign or be forced out of office.
The Supreme Court last year ordered police to remove thousands of landless blacks occupying white-owned farms. It also told President Robert Mugabe's government to craft a workable and legal land-reform scheme by July 1st, or risk being barred by the courts from taking any more land.
This year the court struck down as unconstitutional a new law enacted in December that would have forbidden courts from invalidating results in 37 parliamentary constituencies won by ZANU-PF.
At a special meeting prompted by the latest court ruling on electoral results, ZANUPF MPs passed a vote of no confidence in the Supreme Court.
Their first target was the chief justice, Mr Anthony Gubbay. The government announced last week that he would be retiring early. On Friday two other judges, Mr Nicholas McNally and Mr Ahmed Ebrahim, were asked by the justice minister to advance their retirement. The minister is due to meet the last two of the country's five top judges, Mr Wilson Sandura and Mr Simba Muchechetere, early this week.
However, legal experts say the constitution makes it difficult for judges to be removed.
Judges are appointed by the state president and can only resign or retire. They can be removed from office on grounds of physical or mental infirmity that incapacitates them from discharging their duties.