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White judges accused

    JOHANNESBURG

    The government of President Robert Mugabe had said in the state-controlled media that white judges were ill-qualified to deal with politically sensitive cases on the alleged grounds that were not Zimbabwean citizens.

    The state-owned 'Sunday Mail' quote Jonathan Moyo, chief strategist of the ruling ZANU-PF party as saying: "No sane Zimbabwean should expect the judiciary to be headed by a foreigner, especially a British person, 20 years after our independence, just like it would be insane to have a foreign or
    British president or speaker of parliament."

    Two of the country's five Supreme Court judges are white, including the Chief Justice Anthony Gabbay. Four of the country's 20 High Court judges are also whites. Moyo said Gubbay had not renounced his claim to British citizenship "properly", and was therefore not a Zimbabwean citizen. Similar allegations were carried by the official Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
    (ZBC). One of the white judges, who insisted he was a Zimbabwean citizen, has threatened to take legal action against the official media.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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