Food Aid Food aid continued to be used as a political tool. Government entities manipulated the distribution of government-provided food aid, agricultural inputs, and access to other government assistance programs such as education assistance, to exclude suspected opposition supporters and to compel support for ZANU-PF from recepients. ZANU-PF supporters threatened to withhold food aid in constituencies such as Hurungwe, Murehwa, and Gokwe during the run-up to the elections. Heal Zimbabwe Trust reported that village heads in Hurungwe Ward 9 told their villagers that government-provided maize seed would only be distributed to those citizens who proved they registered to vote and were ZANU-PF party members. Involvement of Traditional Leaders Traditional leaders, including village heads, headmen and chiefs, were the frontmen for ZANU-PF in rural constituencies. Chiefs had previously caucused and openly declared their allegiance to ZANU-PF. In 2017, President Mnangagwa gave Chiefs 52 vehicles, and in August 2018, a further 90 top-range vehicles were distributed to Chiefs. During the elections, traditional leaders were at the forefront of demanding voter registration slips, and intimidating voters into voting for the ruling ZANU-PF party. Specific Cases Chief Zvimba (Alfred Tome), on 4 June in Zvimba South addressed a ZANU-PF rally and publicly chanted the ruling party’s political slogans and openly declared support for President Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF party in front of his subjects. Ÿ On 16 May, the Masvingo High Court Judge Justice Garainesu Mawadze granted an order in favour of Elton Steers Mangoma and his Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe party against the President of the Chiefs Council Chief Fortune Charumbira, National Council of Chiefs and Local Government Minister, banning all traditional leaders from partisan politics. This followed comments by Charumbira during meetings with former President Robert Mugabe in October 2017 in Bulawayo, and again during a meeting of traditional leaders with new President Emmerson Mnangagwa in January 2018 in which he stated that the Chiefs would support ZANU-PF party and its leaders. Ÿ High Court judge Justice Clement Phiri gave Chief Fortune Charumbira a seven-day ultimatum to withdraw his statement that traditional leaders would support the ZANU-PF presidential candidate in the 2018 elections. This was after the Election Resources Centre (ERC) demanded an order compelling Charumbira to retract his statement in a national newspaper and all broadcasting stations in the country. On 28 October 2017 at the annual conference of the Council of Chiefs Charumbira allegedly said: “As chiefs, we agreed during the 2014 congress that Cde (Robert) Mugabe is our candidate for the 2018 elections. We are all united and he is still our candidate. We have been supporting him and we can confirm that winning is guaranteed.” Chief Charumbira, however, refused to comply with the ultimatum to withdraw his statement. Ÿ On 26 June the MDC Alliance filed an urgent chamber application in the Electoral Court challenging President Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF’s entanglement with traditional leaders with a view to direct votes in the ruling party's favour. In particular, the MDC Alliance challenged President Mnangagwa's utterances, which were made on 9 June 2018 to his ZANU-PF party supporters in Mutoko which instigated malpractices to coerce and intimidate voters. Ÿ 9 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018