c) Treat all persons within their areas equally and fairly. Traditional leaders must not – a) be members of any political party or in any way participate in partisan politics; b) act in a partisan manner; c) Further the interest of any political party or cause; or d) violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of any person Colonial and postcolonial governments have continuously redefined the significance of traditional 16 leadership institution in the political system. Largely, it has been used to protect narrow political interests 17 at the expense of the generality of society, especially in rural areas. There are several occasions in the preelection period where the letter and spirit of Traditional Leaders Act and Section 281 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe (No. 20) Act 2013 were undermined at the expense of human dignity, human life and freedom of participation - some of the STCs the Church preaches. The following are some of the recorded cases. 4.1.1 Living in Harmony with each Other (Rom. 12:16): Recognizing Diversity, Inclusion and Cohesion as Positive Values Since the end of 2013 Harmonized Elections, the practical responsibilities of traditional leaders have continued to be modelled by political bureaucrats to tow a partisan line. The following cases recorded through CCJPZ long term observation process show how the traditional leadership institution has been reduced to pursue narrow partisan interests against the dictates of Traditional Leaders Act Chapter 29:17 and Section 281 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act 2013. Case 1 On 12 April 2015, Mr. Chombo, then ZANU PF Secretary for Administration, and Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing - the Ministry that also supervised traditional leaders - threatened voters through village heads in Hurungwe West that action would be taken if ZANU PF loses the next by-elections, especially to the independent candidate, Mr. Temba Mliswa whom he described as ―a reckless cabal of the Mujuru factionǁ. Party leaders at the meeting warned village heads not to lead people astray because ZANU PF would be watching them and that ―each of them had been assigned assistants to monitor and observe the things that you do in support of Temba Mliswaǁ: Mr Chombo asked; "Mangani masabhuku aripano? (vanhu ndokuti 43). Ndichakupai ma assistants 43 vanokubatsirai basa, vanokuchengetedzai kuti musarohwe naTemba, vanomeka shuwa kuti maphone enyu haapinzwe message dzakaipa naTemba…. Mai muri sabhuku? (vakati hongu) Imi ndokupai three. Ma assistants enyu anoita basa kusvika musi watovhota. Kana vhoti yapera, maasssistants navasiri maassistants enyu vanodzokera kubasa ravo rimwe. Kana vakaramba vari pano vanozokunetsai voda kukutongai", said Mr Chombo (Loose translation: How many village heads are here? 43? Yes, I will give you 43 assistants who will help you do the job, who will protect you against Temba, who will make sure that your cell phones do not accept dirty messages from Temba. I will give female village heads three assistants. The assistants will do the work until we finish the election. After the election, the assistants will return to their usual jobs. If they remain here, they could take your power). Meanwhile, Headmen Kapembere and Mangisi, who were accused of being affiliated to Mr. Temba Mliswa, were publicly assaulted by ZANU PF youths in the presence of police officials at a political rally. The two village heads did not report the incident to the police for fear of victimization. The two headmen were later abducted, beaten, severely tortured and were released after three days. 16 See T. Chigwata, ―The Role of Traditional Leaders in Zimbabwe: Are they Still Relevant?ǁ in Law and Democracy, Vol. 20 (2016) at http://www.ldd.org.za/images/stories/Ready_for_publication/traditionaleadersinZim.pdf accessed on 13 September 2018 17 Ibid. 8