Government appoints acting chief justice

Harare has appointed a replacement for embattled Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay, due to take early retirement in late June to end a standoff with the government. AFP reported on Friday that President Robert Mugabe recommended Godfrey Chidyausiku to the post, a move approved by the judiciary services commission. Chidyausiku, 54, who will serve as acting chief justice until Gubbay officially retires at the end of June, is known to be pro-government, the dispatch said.

Chidyausiku served as deputy minister of local government and justice, and as attorney-general before being appointed to the bench in 1987 as judge president of the High Court. In 1999, Mugabe appointed Chidyausiku to head a 400-member commission that drew up the country's draft constitution, which was rejected in a national referendum in February last year. Earlier this year, Chidyausiku publicly rebuked Gubbay for sparking controversy between the judiciary and the executive over land reforms and accused him of bias in favour of white commercial farmers.

Meanwhile, Mugabe has ruled out calling an early presidential election, news reports said. Mugabe commented in an interview with Radio France International that he would stick to the mid-2002 timetable for the presidential poll as there was no compelling reason to call an early election.