‘Gun-toting’ MP meets his match

MT Pleasant legislator, Jason Passade (Zanu PF) was on Tuesday night reportedly battered after a scuffle with a group of women, as the wrangle over the ownership of the remainder of Echo Farm in Crowhill escalates.

Source: ‘Gun-toting’ MP meets his match – NewsDay Zimbabwe July 7, 2016

BY Everson Mushava

Passade is embroiled in a land ownership row with Adwell Chiminya, a war veteran, who invaded the farm in 1999 before government gave him an offer letter a few years later.

Chiminya claims to have successfully applied for change of land use from agricultural land to urban settlement, but the Mt Pleasant MP also claims the land belongs to him after buying it from Masimba Msipa’s Crowhill Properties.

The matter is now raging before the courts and last week, Passade secured a default judgment interdicting Chiminya from making developments on the land.

The war veteran is challenging the ruling at the Supreme Court, claiming he was only served with the papers, when the court was already in session.

On Tuesday, when Passade was reportedly patrolling his property, he saw three women, among them Alexia Kuona (40), who were allocated stands by Chiminya and ordered them to leave.

Kuona said Passade stopped his car, where they were, and asked them what they were doing on his land, saying it was not First Lady Grace Mugabe’s Mazoe Orphanage, which looked after street kids.

“He told us to leave the property, saying even the old man whose picture was on our wrapping cloths (President Robert Mugabe) would not help us. He said Mugabe was old and should retire,” Kuona claimed.

“When he said that, I charged towards him asking why he was insulting our President. He then grabbed me and attempted to shove me into his car. I resisted and started beating him up.”

Kuona said Passade was in the company of a man, from whom he kept demanding a gun.

“In the scuffle, he broke his car window with his elbow. The other two women I was with started crying thinking I had been shot. This attracted the attention of some men and Passade’s colleague saw that. He disembarked from the car and fled. Passade got into his car and drove off,” she alleged.

“Passade called the Borrowdale police, claiming he had been assaulted by Chiminya, Leonard Nyamutamba, Patrick Zuze and Amos Muza. The police came here and I told them I was the one who beat him, and that there was not even a single man.

“We were at the police station until close to midnight. The police had asked me to report to the station today (yesterday) at 9am, but I failed to get transport. I challenged them to give us a chance for a rematch so that I would show them how I beat him.”

When reached for comment, Passade was elusive, first claiming he was out of the country and after being pressed further, he referred all questions to his lawyer.

“They are invaders. There is a court interdict and they will be served tomorrow (today),” he said.

Police spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said five people had been arrested over the matter.