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| MP Tapiwa Matangaidze, and the ijured Mabundu |
THERE was drama outside a popular Gweru nightspot during the early hours of last Sunday when Shurugwi North Member of Parliament, Tapiwa Matangaidze was involved in a brawl with some imbibers allegedly over a woman.
The legislator, who was accused of snatching the woman at the nightclub, reportedly left Tim Night Club in a huff but later seriously injured one of the imbibers, Blessed Mabundu, after hitting and dragging him for some metres with his car, a Ford Ranger, while fleeing from his rival suitor.
Mabundu is recovering at Gweru Provincial Hospital while a road traffic accident report against the legislator was recorded by the police under RRB number 1988795 in which Cde Matangaidze’s Ford Ranger, registration numbers ACI 8774 was involved.
According to witnesses, all hell broke loose when Matangaidze was walking out of the nightspot holding a heavily built woman when one of the imbibers confronted him arguing that the woman was his girlfriend.
“The woman who appeared hooked to the Member of Parliament for Shurugwi North, continued to walk side by side with the MP but one of the imbibers, who insisted that the woman was his girlfriend, followed as the two lovebirds were going out of the bar,” said the witness.
The witness said while outside, Matangaidze confronted the unidentified imbiber and told him to leave the two alone but the imbiber insisted saying the woman was his girlfriend.
Added the witness: “The man who claimed that the woman Matangaidze was walking with was his girlfriend got the sympathy of other imbibers who also got out of the night spot before they mobbed the honourable MP with others taking the chance to fondle the woman.
“ Matangaidze grabbed the woman by the hand and the two dashed to his car which was parked just outside the nightspot.”
The witness said one of the imbibers rushed and stood behind Matangaidze’s car in a bid to block him from reversing the car.
“Some mobbed the car but the MP reversed his car, hitting Blessed Mabundu and dragging him for some metres while under the car before he stopped. As the crowd tried to find out the state of Mabundu after he was dragged under the car, Matangaidze quickly got back into the car and fled the scene,” said the witness.
Sunday News tracked Mabundu to Gweru Provincial Hospital.
He, however, denied that he was personally involved in the fight for a woman with Matangaidze when the accident occurred.
He said he was part of some imbibers who got out of the night spot to catch a glimpse of the commotion between the MP and an unidentified imbiber who was claiming that the woman who was walking with Matangaidze was his girlfriend.
“When I saw Matangaidze whom I could not immediately identify on that day, involved in a fight with some of the imbibers, I also followed to get a glimpse of what was happening but I was very drunk to comprehend the goings on,” he said.
Mabundu said he did not know how he got at the back of Cde Matangaidze’s car where he was later hit and dragged under the car for some distance.
“What I only know is that Matangaidze fled from the scene soon after I got rescued beneath his vehicle.
“Some of my friends later hired a taxi which took me to the hospital and I wondered why the MP fled the scene when he was supposed to help,” said Mabundu, who said he sustained a fractured leg and some injuries on the face after being dragged under the MP’s car.
Matangaidze denied that he was fighting over a woman when he was mobbed by imbibers outside the night spot.
He said he was coming out of the nightspot to see how it was designed since he also owned a night spot in Harare.
Matangaidze said the woman he was walking with was his cousin and some of the imbibers fondled her as they were getting out of the night spot.
“We entered into the night spot so that I can get an appreciation of the design of the night spot since I intend to have some renovations on one of my night spots. I entered the night spot in the company of my cousin and some of the guys who would conduct the renovations at my night spot. As we were getting out of the night spot, some of the imbibers who were by the entrance fondled my cousin’s buttocks and I only asked them why they were doing that.
They wanted to become violent and when we were leaving one guy got to the back of the car trying to block my way,” he said.
Asked why he decided to visit the nightspot at such an odd hour, Matangaidze said he was working at one of his mines in Shurugwi and only decided to visit the nightspot around 3am after knocking off.
“We decided to just pass by the nightspot after knocking off at my mine at about 2am and that was when the incident occurred. After the accident, I drove to Gweru Traffic police and my cousin opened a docket against the imbibers for fondling her,” he said.-SUNDAY NEWS
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