MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS
Former Vice President and Zanu PF’s second
secretary Kembo Mohadi revealed that
traditional leaders agreed to gather their
subjects at polling stations on voting day and
ensure that they vote for Zanu PF. He delivered
this message during the official opening of the
refurbished Mhondoro Hospital on the 20th of
April in Mubaira, Mashonaland West province.
Mohadi stated that in the meetings he had with
chiefs, village heads and headmen, they assured
Zanu PF of a victory. He further mentioned that
on voting day, each headman will marshal
his/her subjects and ensure they have all voted
before he/she votes last. According to CITE,
Mohadi also used Chief Maduna’s installation
ceremony in Filabusi to openly campaign for the
ruling party as he ‘reminded’ chiefs to persuade
their supporters to vote for the ruling party in the
upcoming elections. Since Zimbabwe’s
independence from colonial rule in 1980, Zanu
PF has used traditional leaders as part of its
campaign machinery in rural areas. According to
a survey by the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute
(ZDI), traditional leaders are being used to
campaign for Zanu PF and facilitate the closure
o f t h e i r co m m u n i t i e s f ro m o p p o s i t i o n
penetration.
82%
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 stated the survey
report.
However, the Zimbabwe Constitution says
traditional leaders should be non-partisan and
not belong to any political party. Chapter 15:2 of
the Constitution states that: traditional leaders
must not be members of any political party or in
any way participate in partisan politics, act in a
partisan manner, further the interests of any
political par t y or cause or violate the
fundamental rights and freedoms of any person.
Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume
was convicted on charges of inciting public
violence on 27 April and was on 28 April
sentenced to an effective three years’
imprisonment without an option of a fine.
Harare Magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka sentenced
him to 48 months in jail but suspended 12
months on the condition that during the next
five years, Ngarivhume is not convicted of a
similar offence.
H u m a n R i g h t s D e f e n d e r s ( H R D s ) a re
increasingly being convicted for exercising their
constitutionally guaranteed rights because of
the criminal justice system being used as a
weapon to silence dissenting voices. We
strongly condemn this ruthless crackdown on
the freedom of assembly and association that is
taking place just a few months before the 2023
elections. Ngarivhume’s conviction follows that
of Advocate Fadzayi Mahere over a legal
provision that was declared void by the
Constitutional Court in 2014 and confirmed by
the High Court in 2021 showing how there is
persecution by prosecution.
THE ZIMBABWE PEACE PROJECT MONTHLY MONITORING REPORT | APRIL 2023
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