Traditional leaders remained in the fore front of acting partisan and violating their constitutional mandate of being neutral and non partisan in their work. Reports show that during the period under review, traditional leaders such as Chief Mahenye from Chipinge South for example summarily dethroned 22 village heads whom he accused of allowing their subjects to vote for MDC-T during elections which caused Zanu PF to lose the ward. In Gutu North, at Makumbe village ward 12 on 28 August the village head chased away an MDC-T member from a GMB food distribution scheme saying he should go and get food from the MDC T. The village head categorically told him that he and other MDC- T activists would never get food as long as Zanu PF was in power. In Insiza South (Mat South) on the 19 August all kraal heads for ward 4 were called by Headman Maputo to be told how they would operate with the winning Zanu PF councillor Lawrence Maphosa whose home stead was situated in Insiza North ward 15. In a related incident, on 12 August, Rebecca Mafikeni, one of the remaining MDC-T (Glen 29) activists detained inside Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison for nearly two years passed away. Mafikeni died at Parirenyatwa Hospital where she was admitted after her condition deteriorated. July The month of July was defined by the impending general election which was to be held on 31 July. It was a period marked by uncertainty as to whether elections would be held or not. Zanu PF declared that elections would be held unconditionally. On the other hand, the MDC-T contested the whole election arrangement; its legality and other administrative issues regarding the elections and thirdly SADC’s position of wanting the elections to be postponed by another two weeks. The month commenced with a number of court cases, voter registration, special voting, and party campaign meetings and concluded with the election itself, which resulted in Zanu PF and President Mugabe being declared winners with a 61% win. However, the MDC-T immediately refused to concede defeat citing a plethora of issues. In terms of human rights violations, the period under review recorded the least number of violations in the last three months with 496 violations. Manicaland with 115 violations had the highest violations followed by Masvingo (78) Mashonaland West (64). Matebeleland North had the lowest figures recording just 10 violations. Although the country projected a semblance of ‘peace and tranquillity’experts in peace studies such as Johan Galtung, the founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo point out that “peace is not the absence of physical violence.��� Therefore when assessing the pre-election environment that existed, examining other variables rather than just one aspect of physical violence is paramount. Other forms of violence such as structural violence were employed against people. For example, the presence and partisan actions of structures such as war veterans, military personnel, the police, terror bases, traditional leaders and the denial of food have to be weighed against the mainstream depiction of the elections as being just, free and fair. As the political antagonism increased, civil and political rights of citizens were compromised. Becoming intricately intertwined with party campaigns. Shops and businesses closed when President Robert Mugabe addressed star rallies in specific areas such as Chitungwiza and Mutare. Furthermore, people’s livelihoods were disrupted due to being forced to attend rallies regardless of whether they wanted to or not. Zanu PF was accused of being the main violator in this regard. For example, on the 25 July people were ferried to Mucheke stadium in Masvingo in lorries, buses, kombis and even a train was assigned for attendance purposes. Some of the villagers came from far off places such as Chirumhanzu, Mwenezi and Chiredzi. However, after the rally they were left without transportation and food. Freedom of assembly and association, the right to vote and secrecy of the vote was seriously compromised. Zanu PF’s long term investment in structures of coercion in the form of war veterans, traditional leaders, youths and security members appeared to be effective. Zanu PF applied these structures of coercion across the country towards the elections. On 22 July, in Zoma area ward 1 Gutu west, Masvingo, a colonel and war veteran from the Zimbabwe National Army reportedly addressed his community warning them against voting for the MDC-T. He reportedly mentioned some names of people from ward 1 and 2 who had been killed and told the people that Zanu PF was prepared to kill. In Mazowe West, Mashonaland Central, Zanu PF militia bases were established at 19