Zimbabwe MPs brawl in parliament

Parliament will investigate the incident

An opposition MP attacked a minister in Zimbabwe's parliament in retaliation for "personal and racist abuse".

Roy Bennett, one of three white MPs, assaulted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, after the minister said Mr Bennett would never return to his farm.

The state-run Ziana news agency said Mr Bennett "grabbed Chinamasa by the throat, shook him violently and pushed him to the ground".

Mr Bennett has been chased off his land despite court orders in his favour.

'Saw red'

Mr Chinamasa said he was being "punished" for the crimes of his ancestors, according to Mr Bennett's colleagues from the Movement for Democratic Change.

I fell down trying to avoid the blow Didymus Mutasa Anti-corruption Minister

"I am a person, I have feelings and [after] the vehement, personal, racial attack that Chinamasa was making against me, I saw red and reacted," Mr Bennett told the BBC's Network Africa.

Some of Mr Bennett's employees have been killed and many severely assaulted as militants have taken over his farm in the south-eastern district of Chimanimani, in support of the government's land reform programme.

He said he had been insulted on numerous previous occasions and had "bit his tongue" in the past.

He alleged that a ruling party MP had pulled out a gun during the fracas.

'Feeble kick'

Anti-corruption Minister Didymus Mutasa, 69, said that Mr Bennett had also attacked him.

"On the camera, it appears as though I was beaten but in fact I fell down trying to avoid the blow. I gave him a severe kick on his chest," he said.

Chinamasa: 'Roy Bennett will never set foot on his farm again'

Mr Mutasa said that Mr Chinamasa had remained calm throughout the brawl and had continued his statement staright afterwards.

"But the MDC man was mad, raving mad," he said.

Mr Bennett saw things differently.

"He kicked me up the backside. It was a feeble kick. He's too old. If I hit him, he'll die," he said.

Mr Bennett did not apologise for the incident but said: "One's not proud of it."

But MDC leader of the house and party vice president Gibson Sibanda apologised to Mr Chinamasa and the parliament speaker, saying his party did not condone such "unfortunate" behaviour, according to Ziana.

Zanu-PF chief whip Joram Gumbo said parliament would set up a committee to look into the incident.

On Monday, the MDC lost a by-election in Lupane - one of their strongholds - amid allegations of that Zanu-PF used violence and food aid to bribe voters.

Zanu-PF is now just three seats short of having the two-thirds majority which would enable it to amend the constitution.