during its primary elections. School premises, school buses, fuel allocations, helicopters, government vehicles were all abused by ZANU-PF. School children were reportedly forced to attend ZANU PF rallies and social media was awash with pictures of school children donning party regalia on top of their school uniforms. The involvement of school children in politics and the abuse of school infrastructure for campaign rallies and other politically related activities have always been a cause of concern for the Forum. It seems ZANU PF cannot go into an election without using government property. However, this year ZANU PF was not that lucky as the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) in partnership with VERITAS (a member of the Forum) sought an interdict to stop the use of school property for political purposes and the forced attendance of school children at political rallies. In a landmark ruling, the High Court interdicted ZANU PF from: a) “Encouraging / forcing school children to attend rallies; b) Causing the closure of schools for any of its rallies or activities; c) Compelling teachers to attend rallies, to wear party regalia, to prepare performances for children to deliver at rallies, or to make contributions towards rallies; and d) Using school property for political purposes, which covers commandeering buses to ferry people to and from their rallies The Minister of Education and his officials were also prohibited from assisting political parties in any of the prohibited activities. The Minister was also ordered to take measures, including the drafting of regulations to prevent political parties from abusing school property, staff and school children.”23 It is sad to note that ZANU-PF appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which automatically suspended the High Court’s decision and ZANU PF reportedly continued using school premises for its rallies. Traditional Leaders The role of traditional leaders in Zimbabwean politics has always been a bone of contention. Traditional leaders have always meddled in politics and openly declared their allegiance to ZANU PF in violation of section 281 (2) (a), which prohibits traditional leaders from participating in partisan politics or acting in a partisan manner. 23 VERITAS, Election Watch 27-2018 - VERITAS/ARTUZ Court Case to Stop Abuse of Schools, Election Watch, 27/2018, 4 July 2018 28