Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) president Nelson Chamisa told people who gathered at Muchakata Business Centre recently for Masvingo cluster rally that when he gets into power he will not remove traditional leaders but will repeal the traditional leader’s act.
Chamisa said under his government, traditional leaders will not be appointed by government but by their clansmen following their tradition.
“When we get in power, we will not remove our chiefs, we will just make sure that they are not appointed by government but by their own clansmen according to their tradition. We want to restore their dignity not what is happening now where government interferes in the selection of our leaders,” said Chamisa
He went on to say the tittle Chief was not befitting to them saying the tittle was imposed by the colonial masters but in their respective countries they call them Kings so local Chiefs were supposed to be called Kings.
“When a crocodile is called a lizard it becomes a lizard, this is the situation we have in Zimbabwe, our traditional leaders were called kings and the colonial masters came and called them Chiefs. In England theirs are called Kings, so when we get in power, we will not continue calling them Chief but Kings,” said Chamisa.
He said traditional leaders were being forced to tow the Zanu PF line and were used to intimidate people, a development which violates democratic rights.
He went on to talk about land rights saying people were supposed to get tittle deeds on their ancestral land not the current situation where the government owns all the land.
“We will look into the issue of land, you people in rural areas have your ancestral land but it’s not yours. We need to fix that and give people tittle deeds on their land so that even when the government wants to do any form of development they ask you for permission and you agree on the terms and conditions,” said Chamisa
