By Costa Nkomo
As Zimbabwe faces a mounting crisis with severe drought, inflation, power outages, and a collapsing public health system, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s decision to ‘gift’ 90 Isuzu Double Cab vehicles to traditional chiefs has sparked widespread criticism.
Many question the government’s priorities as millions of citizens grapple with food insecurity and unaffordable essential commodities, seeing that the president has seen fit to allocate resources towards vehicles for chiefs.
Mnangagwa defended his move, stating that the vehicles will help chiefs carry out their duties more efficiently during the official handover at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) on Wednesday.
“The facility ensures that the Chiefs can carry out their critical duties more efficiently and effectively,” Mnangagwa said, adding that traditional chiefs are “the historical custodians of our land and culture.”
The president added this initiative aligns with a government policy providing chiefs with vehicles every five years.
He also mentioned additional support measures, such as building roads to chiefs’ homes, providing electricity and water, and implementing tillage programmes.
However, critics see this as a blatant disregard for the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans and a political tactic ahead of Mnangagwa’s potential third term bid.
Darlington Chigumbu, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) shadow minister for Information and Publicity, condemned the move, stating the country has a challenge when it comes to prioritisation.
“This year we have drought, and people are in need of food aid. Yet, the government’s priority is to dish out vehicles to traditional leaders,” Chigumbu said.
“As a father, you cannot opt to buy a suit when your family is starving.”
Political analyst Lazarus Sauti argued that the president is “buying loyalty” from chiefs, who hold significant influence in rural areas, where elections are often decided.
“The President is buying support,” Sauti said.
“Traditional chiefs are in charge of people in rural areas. During elections, we see traditional chiefs being used to campaign for the ruling party. So we see this as a way of buying loyalty and support because traditional leaders are listened to by people in their jurisdictions.”
This marks the second time Mnangagwa has gifted vehicles to chiefs since assuming power, raising concerns about the chiefs’ impartiality, which is mandated in Zimbabwe’s Constitution.
Section 281(2) prohibits traditional leaders from engaging in partisan politics, yet their open support for Zanu PF has increasingly blurred the lines of neutrality in Zimbabwean politics.
The section states that traditional leaders “must not be members of any political party or in any way participate in partisan politics; act in a partisan manner; further the interests of any political party or cause.”
