THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has issued a veiled caution to the ruling Zanu PF party for abusing traditional leaders in political campaigns.
“Political parties should desist from using traditional
leaders to further their political interests as that is inconsistent with
section 281(2) of the Constitution and should promote peace-building activities
in a bid to de-escalating political violence; and to continuously encourage and
train their members on human rights-based approaches in the conduct of their
party political business,” ZHRC said in a statement.
Zanu PF is the only party known for perennially seeking the
services of traditional leaders, especially during election seasons.
Some traditional leaders, including Chiefs’ Council
president Fortune Charumbira, have in the past attracted criticism for openly
dabbling in partisan politics.
Chiefs, headmen and village heads have been accused of
force-marching their subjects to vote for the ruling party despite the
Constitution prohibiting the traditional leaders from participating in partisan
politics.
The Constitution states that chiefs should be apolitical
and “must not in any way participate in partisan politics, act in a partisan
manner, further the interests of any political party or cause or violate the
fundamental rights and freedoms of any person”.
Already, there are reports of traditional leaders who are
intimidating their subjects ordering them not to support the opposition.
In 2018, High Court judge Justice Clement Phiri ordered
Charumbira to withdraw a public statement in which he said traditional leaders
would support Zanu PF presidential candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa ahead of that
year’s disputed elections.
The judge said Charumbira’s remarks, made on October 28,
2017 and on January 13, 2018, were a violation of the Constitution, which says
traditional leaders should be apolitical.
According to a report by the Election Resource Centre on
its Election Credibility Indicator, traditional leaders continue to dabble in
partisan politics.
“The electoral environment has seen a worsening of the
conduct of traditional leaders, chiefs and headmen actively mobilising citizens
to vote on election day in rural areas, potentially impacting the secrecy and
integrity of the vote,” the report read.
No comment could be obtained from Zanu PF commissar Mike
Bimha and party spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa.
The ZHRC also called on political parties to encourage
their supporters to practise tolerance to de-escalate tensions and reduce
incidents of political violence.
“To ensure that their members exercise restraint in their
activities by promoting political tolerance and diversity of views as well as
accepting political pluralism and ensure that their members, in garnering
support for their candidates, desist from advocating and resorting to violence
in speech and action and not to use force and threats as that has an effect of
violating the rights of other individuals,” ZHRC said.
“The ZHRC encourages the public at large to practise
political tolerance and maturity, respect divergent views and to co-exist with
one another, to avoid violating human rights and fundamental freedoms of other
citizens in the pretext of supporting political parties of their choice as well
as to report threats of violence or acts of violence to the Zimbabwe Republic
Police for investigations.” Newsday
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