Chief Timothy Muusha in Chimanimani district in Manicaland province has summoned another Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activist to his traditional court to answer charges of campaigning for the opposition party during the period leading to the disputed August 23 national elections.
Isaah Mapunga of Nyamusundu village appeared before Chief Muusha’s court on Saturday where the matter failed to proceed because the complainant, a Zanu PF councillor-elect, Lovemore Utseya did not attend the court session.
This follows another recent incident where Chief Muusha fined two CCC activists in the same province three goats for disobeying a local village head’s order to vote for the ruling Zanu PF party during the August 23 election.
“I appeared before Chief Muusha’s traditional court on September 9m 2023, answering allegations of inviting CCC aspiring parliamentary candidate Cananan Matiashe and aspiring councilor Boston Chinamira in Nyamusundu area. The two CCC politicians were accused of conducting door to door campaigns in the area on August 9, 2023. So the chief was saying I committed a crime by inviting the two CCC candidates,” said Mapunga in an interview.
According to Mapunga, the case did not proceed as scheduled on Saturday because Utseya, a former soldier, did not appear at the traditional court.
“Utseya, who was the Zanu PF council’s candidate, reported me to the Chief. He has been frustrating CCC campaigns in the area by threatening our supporters yet there is no law in this country which prevents political parties from conducting their political campaigns,” said the CCC activist.
Mapunga has been ordered to return to the traditional court on September 23, 2023 at 10 am while Utseya is expected to lead evidence during the “trial.”
When contacted for a comment, Utseya denied reporting Mapunga to the Chief but said he only advised him to seek permission from the headman when holding political meetings in the area.
“I advised Mapunga to get permission from the headman in future. He was not supposed to bring people in the area without the approval of the headman,” Utseya said.
Meanwhile, the two CCC activists Knowledge and Solomon Tambwera were fined three goats by Chief Muusha for defying orders to vote for Zanu PF, have since enlisted the services of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
In June, Chief Muusha was reported to have also threatened his subjects with unspecified action if they voted for CCC during a meeting held at Muusha Primary School to introduce him as the chief.
At that meeting, Chief Muusha claimed he had assigned village heads in every ward to make sure his subjects must vote for Zanu PF and that if the opposition CCC won, that particular ward would be in trouble.
