CONCEPTUALISATION AND POLITICAL MANIPULATION IN COLONIAL AND POST-COLONIAL ZIMBABWE Traditional leadership comprises indigenous institutions of governance such as chiefs, headmen and village heads. Zimbabwe’s peri-urban and rural communities are manned by close to 2,500 village heads, with each of these leaders overseeing close to 35 households.5 The village heads report to a headman, of whom there are close to 452 countrywide.6 A headman is a sub-chief who is accountable to the paramount chief of an area.7 By their nature, traditional leaders remain the most respected and immediate form of local government in many of Africa’s rural communities.8 The importance of this institution also emanates from its ability in many instances to deliver various governmental responsibilities where the State is absent or has a limited presence.9 In Zimbabwe, traditional leaders are the custodians of tradition, culture and community development in areas under their jurisdiction.10 They play both the executive and judicial roles in their communities, enforcing customary laws and settling customary law disputes. 2500 village heads 35 households 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Taking advantage of traditional leader’s proximity to communities and the respect they command in many rural and peri-urban areas, politicians have manipulated this institution as a way to disseminate political information and propaganda to the grassroots.11 In many African nations, the compromised relationship between traditional leaders and political elites dates back to the colonial era. As Chigwata has noted, “successive governments in both colonial and independent Zimbabwe have sought to maximise this strength for their respective narrow political interests.”12 In their efforts to consolidate power, the British, Portuguese and French colonialists used varied means, including indirect and direct rule systems, to co-opt traditional leaders into formal institutions. In so doing, they delegated power downward and used traditional leaders to govern subjects,13 thereby securing reliable mouthpieces for their colonial agenda.14 In most cases, compliant traditional leaders were relied on to mobilise natives for taxation and to provide free labour in white farms on behalf of the colonial government.15 The locals strongly resisted this role by traditional leaders. Traditional leaders were also relied on to legitimise the colonial authority in Africa. Thus, traditional leaders acted “as brokers between colonial powers and locals, often trading their (and people’s) acquiescence for material or political gods.”16 During this colonial era, traditional leaders who complied and bowed to the demands of colonialists were handsomely rewarded, while dissenting leaders were heavily punished and removed from office.17 The role of traditional leaders has in many Centre for Conflict Management and Transformation (CCMT) Role and responsibilities in rural local governance in Zimbabwe: parallels, overlaps and conflict (2014) 10. N Musekiwa ‘The role of local authorities in democratic transition’ in E Masunungure & J Shumba (eds) Democratic Transition (2012) 242. As above. Chigwata (n 3) 243. As above. D Kadt & AL Horacio ‘Agents of the Regime? Traditional Leaders and Electoral Politics in Africa’ (2018) 80 The Journal of Politics, 384. Musekiwa (n 6 ) 242. Chigwata (n 3) 243. M Mamdani Citizen and Subject (1996); DT Acemolgu & AR James ‘Chiefs: Economic Development and Elite Control of Civil Society in Sierra Leone’ (2014) 122 Journal of Political Economy 323. Chigwata (n 3 above) 243. EG Marsh, ED Roper & DA Kotze ‘Local government in Rhodesia’ in WB Vosloo, DA Kotzee & WJO Jeppe (eds) Local government in Southern Africa (1974) 184. Kadt & Horacio (n 10) 390. Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) Role of Traditional Leaders in Elections and Electoral Processes in Zimbabwe: Position Paper (2020) 1. 9