The Zimbabwean government plans to order an inquiry into the conduct of a white judge who last week ordered the arrest of the country's justice minister for contempt of court, according to a report in the state-run Heraldnewspaper.
High Court judge Mr Fergus Blackie issued the arrest warrant last week after Justice Minister Mr Patrick Chinamasa failed to appear in court because he was on a trip abroad.
Mr Chinamasa told the Heraldthe warrant against him was a "gross abuse of judicial office". He said he would recommend to the country's chief justice that a tribunal be set up to investigate the conduct of the judge, who is expected to retire on July 18th.
Mr Chinamasa said he wanted the inquiry to go ahead regardless of Judge Blackie's imminent retirement.
The minister had been due to appear in court to answer charges for criticising the High Court for imposing a six-month jail sentence on three US missionaries convicted of weapons possession in 1999.
Concerns have been voiced abroad and at home over the alleged erosion of the rule of law in Zimbabwe and reports that the southern African country's judges are being intimidated.
Judge Blackie will be the seventh non-black magistrate to leave the country's courts since the forced early retirement of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay in March 2001.
AFP
