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Chiefs have much repair work to do

Opinion & Analysis
CHIEFS have a special place in Zimbabwean society — this has been so from time immemorial.

CHIEFS have a special place in Zimbabwean society — this has been so from time immemorial.

Column by Conway Tutani

The institution of traditional leadership has stood the test of time to be still relevant today.

While its role is much different and diminished, it’s not superfluous at all. Why that way? Because chiefs are one of the bedrocks or pillars of society; a glue that binds people together.

In primary school, I always felt the odd one out as most in the class reeled off proudly that they came from Chief So-and-So’s area never mind that most of them were, like me, “maborn rukisheni (born in the location, as urban townships were called then).

Almost everyone had strong rural roots. It meant a lot to them to have a chief — I could see that.

From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, politicians of every hue and colour have found it necessary to woo chiefs. They have made chiefs an entry point to communities under their jurisdiction in order to win the people’s hearts and minds.

The Rhodesian regime deposed those chiefs unwilling to toe the line of racial segregation. They even went to the extent of creating the so-called Zimbabwe United People’s Organisation (Zupo) to neutralise genuine nationalist and liberation movements.

To give Zupo a veneer of respectability and nationwide appeal, Chief Jeremiah Chirau from Mashonaland and Chief Khayisa Ndiweni (Matabeleland) were installed as leaders. But Zupo only existed in the figment of the regime’s imagination.

Now we have come full circle as lessons of history have not been learnt with today’s rulers having made the same grave mistake of politicising the chieftaincy. The similarities between the two political eras  has always been patently or glaringly obvious.

Politicians who come and go debased a long-standing institution. The office lost its dignity and respect. Instead of being the symbol of harmony and unity, some chiefs became divisive. Instead of practicing consensual leadership, they took orders from outsiders with political agendas not necessarily in the interests of the community. They had become nothing less than Zanu PF political commissars.

Other chiefs played along for self-preservation, as one could see that they were not in the game; their hearts were not in it. In their heart of hearts, they knew it was wrong and damaging in the long run, but just weren’t ready to deal with it. But there was no way they could withstand the backlash if they dared to openly resist.

They didn’t have much chance to play their primary role of serving the people with politicians breathing down their necks, watching and monitoring their every  word and move.

They forced chiefs to be what they were never meant to be: political commissars and enforcers.

This only serves to underscore how little in common these politicians have with the institution of chiefs. Naturally some of the chiefs took the bait. They became intoxicated out of the mind with this new-found power, behaving as if they were more Zanu PF than Zanu PF. They were pampered by the regime to buy their loyalty.

Things were not made any better by the fact that the relevant minister – Ignatius Chombo – is one of the most partisan characters in government. The idea was to destroy anything that didn’t conform to their  ideology and dogma; to create a future in which only one version of history and events is accepted as true and anything else as subversive.

Now a rescue operation is underway. According to the draft constitution, passed unanimously in Parliament this week, chiefs will no longer have to publicly support any political party and have powers to distribute land, but retain the authority to administer communal land.

It’s stated in black and white in the draft constitution: “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 party or cause or violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of any person.” In another leap into modern democratic best practices, elections for the Chiefs’ Council will from now be conducted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

It is those chiefs embedded to the political system who are crying the loudest against these progressive changes because they have the most to lose.

Yes, chiefs have greatly divided opinion. They have been pulled this way and that way, to the political breaking point. They have been used and abused and variously labelled patriots and  traitors.

With that mutual respect and tolerance as enunciated in the draft, Zimbabwe would be different from what it is today and would not have experienced the destruction, strife, plunder, murder and terror it has undergone.

Chiefs have a huge healing job on their hands; they have much repair work to do – that is if they are allowed to breathe freely and easily this time around. [email protected]