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Data analyst group and election watchdog, Team Pachedu, has criticized traditional leaders for openly declaring their allegiance to the ruling ZANU PF.
The group said that such acts undermined democratic principles as the law forbids traditional chiefs from dabbling in partisan politics.
“Chiefs have endorsed ED, ZANU-PF.It is illegal and unconstitutional for Chiefs to endorse any political candidate or political party.
ZEC has the mandate to educate voters that traditional leaders must never be partisan, but ZEC intentionally avoids this key issue,”Team Pachedu said.
Section 280 (2) (a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe specifically provides that traditional leaders must not be members of any political party or in any way participate in partisan politics.
They must not further the interests of any political party or cause or violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of any person.However, traditional leaders have used threats and memories of past electoral violence to coerce their subjects to behave in a prescribed way.
Zimbabwe continues to witness a growing trend in which traditional leaders continue to act as gatekeepers of communities, only giving their preferred Zanu-PF cronies opportunities to reach out to their areas,making the playing field uneven.
Traditional leaders have been part of the Zanu-PF mobilisation mechanism at the very basic level, covertly encouraging villagers to vote for the ruling party at levels that distant observers will not readily notice.
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