Chronicle Editor
Walter Mswazie, Masvingo Correspondent
TRADITIONAL leaders’ involvement in politics dates back to the period of liberation struggle where some chiefs even waged a war and defeated the whites, Zimbabwe Chiefs Council president Chief Fortune Charumbira has said.
He said prominent chiefs who actively participated in the struggle included Chief Khayisa Ndiweni in Matabeleland North, Chief Chirau of Mashonaland West and Chief Rekai Tangwena of Manicaland.
His sentiments came in the wake of criticism from some sectors that most chiefs were meddling in partisan politics and yet they were supposed to be apolitical. Talking to journalists in Masvingo during an interactive social gathering at a local hotel last week, Chief Charumbira who is also a former World Bank consultant as well as the deputy chairman of Pan African Parliament said while he was apolitical he could hardly avoid politics. He said he has been portrayed, as a partisan traditional leader and yet chiefs could not avoid politics in their activities.
“Chiefs started to be actively involved during the war of liberation and that is historical. We have chiefs like Ndiweni, Tangwena and Chirau who were actively involved in the war of liberation and defeated the whites,” said Chief Charumbira.
He said chiefs deserved respect and called for the amendment of the Traditional Leaders Act, so that the position as well as entitlements of chiefs could not be debated.
“At continental level, King Mswati of eSwatini, formerly Swaziland comes first and is followed by chiefs before heads of States.
“That is the hierarchy at that level, meaning by right chiefs should be respected and given entitlements that commensurate with their correct status.
“The reason why some people, especially in Zimbabwe, do not respect chiefs is because of colonial hangover. During the colonial era chiefs were subservient to the then native commissioners or the district administrators. The Traditional Leaders Act Chapter 29: 17 needs amendment in line with how chiefs should be treated, in terms of status and entitlements.
“At macro level, say, continent, a chief is treated as a senior person with the status high. He comes after the King and this is also evident in England where there is Queen Elizabeth. By the same vein, our involvement in politics should not be seen as wrong. I am apolitical but strategic and my allegiance to one political party is ideologically not partisan. I believe in the ethos of Zanu-PF whose success in the protracted struggle was dependent on the actions of chiefs. Some chiefs were found sabotaging the struggle and thus they were labelled sell-outs, during the war,” he said.
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