The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and Primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa has become involved in a bitter public argument with the country's Minister of Correctional Services, who is responsible for overseeing prison management.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane demanded an inquiry and the immediate dismissal of Dr Sipo Mzimela after 156 warders went on a rampage recently at a gaol outside Cape Town, severely beating up prisoners. Prisoners said that the warders, wearing balaclavas, violently assaulted and robbed them during a search for arms and ammunition.

The Archbishop also said that during a meeting earlier this year Dr Mzimela and the national commissioner of Correctional Services had encouraged warders to treat prisoners like animals.

"The Minister and his commissioner must bear full responsibility for having influenced wardens in this way," the Archbishop said.

After accompanying President Nelson Mandela to the prison on 29 May to gain first-hand accounts of the rampage, Dr Mzimela told reporters: "I have to condemn in the strongest possible terms the remarks of the Archbishop, which I personally consider to be criminally irresponsible. As a pastor, the first task of a bishop would have been to visit those who were injured to console them."

A pastor was not called upon to inflame or to take up political positions, Dr Mzimela said. "Perhaps the bishop wants to enter into the political arena, but by doing so he must not hide behind the cloak of religion, nor must he hide behind his purple skirts."

In a statement on 30 May, the Archbishop replied that, instead of applying his mind and energies to addressing the issue at hand, the minister appeared to be more interested in making a personal attack on him and the Church. "That slur is reminiscent of attacks made by Nationalist [Party] cabinet ministers in the worst days of apartheid, when they could not tolerate the Church of God's work against apartheid. History has shown who won that struggle - and it wasn't the politicians of the day," he said.

Archbishop Ndungane said the role of the Church was to inculcate a culture of human rights in South Africa's new democracy as enshrined in the country's Constitution.

After his visit to the prison, President Mandela appointed a board of inquiry into the attack by the wardens. Archbishop Ndungane applauded the visit and the appointment, saying the President's actions went a long way to restoring confidence in the country's correctional services system.

"For this, the country is once again indebted to President Mandela," Archbishop Ndungane said.