The political capture of traditional leaders in Zimbabwe
Chiefs and other traditional leaders are unelected, hereditary figures who serve as the primary local governance structure in rural areas, acting as custodians of cultural values, customs, and communal land while also performing administrative and judicial functions within their communities. In rural Zimbabwe, chiefs control land allocation and access to communal resources and resolve disputes.
Section 281(2) of the 2013 Constitution emphatically provides that traditional leaders must not be members of any political party or in any way participate in partisan politics or act in a partisan manner or further the interests of any political party.
Clause 20 of CAB3 would repeal s 281(2). If this amendment is passed traditional leaders would be allowed to freely engage in political activities. The explanatory memorandum tries to justify this radical change on the basis that stopping traditional leaders from political activity right to take part in political activities violates their political rights. This justification is not sound. If traditional leaders are affiliated to a political party villagers will believe that the will be biased in carrying out their various functions such land allocation, dispute settlement and distribution of government food aid. Villagers who are members of pollical parties not favoured by the traditional leader will fear that they will be discriminated against. The same considerations apply to judges who are required to be politically non-partisan.
There are other compelling reasons why traditional leaders should Zimbabwe to remain politically neutral. Politicisation weakens the cultural and historical role of chiefs, turning them into political operatives rather than custodians of traditional values. Chiefs derive authority from tradition, not elections and their legitimacy depends on their neutrality.
Political parties may use chiefs as political mobilisers, giving unfair advantage and undermining democratic equality. When a chief openly supports one party, rival supporters may feel excluded or threatened and they may be coerced into joining the Chief’s party. Rural areas can become hotspots of intimidation when authority figures take sides.
Political parties may “capture” chiefs through gifts, allowances, or promises of development projects. Chiefs may feel pressured to deliver votes in exchange for benefits.
Traditional institutions are meant to unify clans and communities; political affiliation fractures that unity.
Local government works best when traditional leaders collaborate with elected officials without party bias. Non‑partisan leadership ensures development projects are distributed fairly.
Many African countries such as Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa require chiefs to remain non‑partisan to maintain legitimacy.
Co-option of Chiefs
Previously, some Chiefs and other traditional leaders blatantly aligned themselves with ZANU PF in violation of the constitutional provisions requiring them to be politically neutral. ZANU PF has rewarded them with various benefits, especially as elections have approached.
Chief Charumbira who had been the President of the Council of Chiefs for a long time openly expressed his allegiance to the ruling party and the obligation as he sees it of traditional leaders to not allow supporters of the opposition to be in their areas. In 2006 he threatened to evict villagers who supported the opposition. He told villagers that those evicted from his area for backing the opposition would have nowhere to go as other chiefs across the country had also adopted the same policy of banning supporters of the opposition parties from their areas. He said:
“I have some names of [opposition party] supporters whom I have already earmarked for eviction. The position is that only ZANU (PF) supporters will be allowed to reside in my area. I want my (village) headmen to take note of this position. If you are an opposition supporter this is the time to mend your ways before we come for you and ask you to pack your bags. I don't know where you will go because other chiefs will take a similar stance.”[See End Note 1]
In 2018 an NGO, the Election Resource Centre brought an application in the High Court to try to stop Chief Charumbira from violating the Constitution in this manner. In his judgement in Election Resource Centre v Charumbira & Ors HH-270-2018 the judge ruled that Chief Charumbira’s statements were in clear violation of the constitutional provisions and the Chief was ordered to issue a retraction in writing of the offensive statement and cause them to be published in national newspapers and make a statement on the national broadcaster. The Minister of Local Government was also ordered to institute disciplinary action against Charumbira for the misconduct. Neither of these two orders were complied with and attempts by the Election Resource Centre to force compliance by seeking a contempt of court pronouncement failed.
In complete disdain of the court ruling against Charumbira and obviously believing that they could disregard the law with impunity, at a meeting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Bulawayo in March 2023 the Chiefs endorsed the President and his ZANU PF party, with the National Chiefs Council President Chief Fortune Charumbira saying that as chiefs, they were not afraid of rooting for ZANU PF to win the general elections set for August 2023.
The Newsday editor of a local newspaper, Newsday, said that the Chiefs had shown blatant disregard for the laws of the country for personal aggrandisement. They had eschewed their neutrality and aligned themselves with a political party and seem hell-bent on foisting their personal choices on their subjects. The bribery of chiefs and subtle coercion by the ZANU PF government for chiefs to support and campaign for it significantly contributed to the party’s “success” in rural constituencies. The chiefs and headmen whip the people into line and at times as electoral petitions from past elections have shown, chiefs threaten to expel opposition members and activists from the areas that fall under their jurisdiction. They are leaders for the whole community, not a certain section of the community. This conduct is a stain on our democracy and should be washed.
In another editorial in the same newspaper, the editor said this[See End Note 2]:
ZANU PF’s second secretary Kembo Mohadi, addressing a public gathering in Mhondoro, briefed President Mnangagwa that ZANU PF had mobilised Chiefs, Headmen, and Village Heads in Mhondoro to frog march and shepherd villagers to polling stations to ensure they voted for Zanu PF.
It is alleged that the army and the CIO have connived with traditional leaders to turn rural areas into ‘no-go zones’ for the opposition ahead of the 2023 elections.[See End Note 3] The ZDI report said traditional leaders were being used to campaign for ZANU PF and facilitate the closure of their communities from opposition penetration. Eighty-two percent of research participants noted that traditional leaders hinder access to the rural constituency by the opposition, media and the civil society ahead of the 2023 election.
With these leaders so captured in ZANU PF patronage networks, it is very hard for the opposition, independent media and the civil society to gain permission to operate in their spheres of authority requires Authorisation from the chief, headman and village head is required to access to villagers in the rural areas
Chiefs have been given all-terrain vehicles and other benefits by government in return for their political support.
Conclusion
It is clear that the attempt change the Constitution to enable traditional leaders to engage in political activity is not motivated by a concern to uphold their political rights. Instead it seeks to legitimise the previously illegal political capture of traditional leaders by the ruling party whereunder they would be active political agents and campaigners of the ruling party.
End References
[1] He made the threat at a function organised by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation in rural Masvingo province to mark World Food Day. (Source: Zim Online 24 October 2006)
[2] Editorial entitled “Chiefs now a political appendage of the ruling party” Newsday 8 April 2023
[3] CIO, army seal off rural areas Newsday 14 April 2023 newsday.co.zw/-cio-army-seal-off-rural-areas