ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe this week added three new seats to the Supreme Court by appointing three judges seen as stalwarts of Zanu-PF. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the additional judges are needed to handle litigation by white farmers “who are contesting and indeed frustrating the government’s land reform programme”, according to the report. White farmers, through the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU), have already won a Supreme Court ruling declaring the violence-wracked land reforms unconstitutional, but individual farmers continue to press claims to retain their farms. Chinamasa did not say when the new judges – Misheck Cheda, Vernanda Ziyambi and Luke Malaba – would take the bench. Under Zimbabwean law, Mugabe has unrestricted powers to appoint judges or to expand the size of the bench. His appointments are reviewed only by the Judicial Services Commission. – IRIN