HARARE – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday retracted his stinging attacks against the judiciary amid unconfirmed reports that the Attorney General was considering charging him for labeling Zimbabwe’s judges functionaries of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party.

Tsvangirai -- who initially refused to withdraw his comments and threatened to withdraw from the unity government should he be charged over the matter -- said his utterances were a spontaneous reaction reflecting his and his MDC party’s anger at a court ruling nullifying the election of the party’s chairman as Speaker of the House of Assembly.

The comments were not meant to undermine the judiciary and should not be taken out of context, he said in a statement.

He said: “My recent comments on the judiciary were clearly an immediate reaction against a judgment that affected the morale of my party. Those comments should not be taken out of context.

“They are not in any way a departure from my strong belief in judicial independence nor were they meant to undermine anyone. As a party, we remain committed to judicial independence. We have never sought to undermine anyone in the judiciary and we will continue to place our matters before the courts.”

Speaking immediately after the Supreme Court more than a week ago ruled that MDC chairman Lovemore Moyo’s election as Speaker was irregular and void, Tsvangirai said he would not accept the ruling that he said had been made by “ZANU PF politicians masquerading as judges.”

Since his utterances, senior ZANU PF officials have publicly called for Tsvangirai’s arrest for contempt of court, while reports -- not denied by Attorney General Johannes Tomana  -- suggested he was planning to prosecute the Prime Minister.

Tsvangirai’s climb-down yesterday is unlikely to silence the ZANU PF chorus for his arrest or dissuade Tomana from proceeding against him.

A top Mugabe ally and one of the foremost hawks in the President’s camp, Tomana has been ever eager to prosecute MDC members no matter how flimsy the evidence against them.

He is certain to relish the chance to have a go at Tsvangirai, not least because the MDC leader has been the most outspoken against Tomana and insists the Attorney General should be fired from his job because Mugabe appointed him without consulting other partners in the Harare coalition government.

By Zimonline