Judges meet government after threats from war veterans

Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court judges met with the government to discuss how it can protect them from threats from liberation war veterans who accuse them of bias in the land dispute, news reports said on Tuesday.

According to the reports, two of the country’s five Supreme Court judges - Chief Justice Antony Gubbay and Justice Wilson Sandura - met Vice President Simon Muzenda on Monday to see if the executive could persuade the war veterans to stop intimidating them. A statement released by the president’s office was quoted as saying: “A range of issues about the welfare of the judiciary and the administration of justice in the country were discussed.”

War veterans last year told the judges to resign or risk being removed from office by force. The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of white farmers who have tried to block the government from proceeding with land reforms.