One villager had this to say: "kana vatungamiri vedu vava kutyiswa kudai navakuru vemusangano saVaChombo ko isuwo vanhuwo zvedu tisina chimiro tingasara pakadai." (If our own traditional leaders are being threatened (and humiliated in public) with unspecified action by party's leaders such as Mr. Chombo, what does it leave to ordinary villagers like us?). Another villager from Chiroto said, "Hatitombofamba kana kune musangano nekuti ukawanikwa uchifamba vamwe vari kumusangano unozonzi uri kuenda kunotengesa kuna Mliswa" [We are no longer travelling when there are ZANU PF meetings because if you visit whilst others are attending ZANU PF meetings, you will be accused of having visited Mr. Mliswa to sell out the party]. Case 2 In Mutare North, one war veteran Mr Kufakunesu sent a group of youth on the 6th of May 2014 to surround the home of headman Tafirenyika Chipfatsura of Chipfatsura village. The youth were chanting slogans and singing revolutionary songs such as "iwe mutengesi tengesa uone mashura" (loosely translated to mean sell outs will be dealt with). The headman refused to come out of his house during the night and the group disappeared in the morning. Case 3 Addressing a rally in Chirumanzu-Zibagwe in February 2015, then Vice President told a political rally that ―this time, no one would be beaten, but if ZANU PF loses, you know what we would do. ―Everyone will vote at their polling station and we know who will vote at which polling station… those who choose to vote for those who are not known and have no history we will build a fence to shut them out… and headmen should lead their folks to the polling station while party chairman and councillors at that level follow behind and watch that all their people vote. Case 4 Between 15 April and 1 June 2015, traditional leaders from Sengwe, Chiroti, Madiro, Kachekache, Zvimonja, Madudzo, Magororo and Zvipani (Mashonaland Central) were forced to attend political rallies where they were asked to chant partisan slogans and encourage their villagers in attendance to vote for ZANU PF. Some village heads were instructed to tell villagers they would lose their land if they vote for political parties of their choice. Village heads accused of supporting an independent candidate - such as one from Ward 17 - were dethroned and replaced by those felt would coerce villagers to vote in a certain way. Finally voters suspected to be supporters of an independent candidate were instructed to pretend to be illiterate and advised to ask for assistance from known political activists of the same political party when they vote on June 10, 2015. Case 5 I was a secretary to the one village head in Chivi North Ward 8. I was given a task to register voter registration slips of all 2018 Harmonized Election registered voters in the village. The purpose was to intimidate voters that ―if you vote, we can compare your slip with ballot to identify the candidate whom you would have voted.ǁ We were told that this was a directive, an instruction from the ―aboveǁ that had to be obeyed. After registering about fifteen voter registration slips, my conscience told me that what I was doing was wrong. I resigned though the fear of ballot detection against serial numbers had been spread in many villages within our ward… The by-elections held between 2013 and 2018 Harmonized Elections were used by political bureaucrats as leverages to emphasize traditional leaders' partisan roles. The day to day operations of traditional leaders in the communities increasingly adopted a partisan, divisive, isolative and marginalizing approach. Political opponents, who are subjects of same traditional leaders with alternative political views - began to endure a life of deprivation, threats and intimidation in their day to day interactions with traditional leaders. This gradually undermined their confidence and freedom of expression. 9