by Tawanda Musariri

Sitting MP for Mt Pleasant and Zanu PF candidate for the same constituency, Cde Jason Passade has mocked aspiring independent MP for his constituency, Fadzayi Mahere as a social media politician who lacks appreciation of the issues affecting the people she wants to represent.

Passade told Harare Post that he did not lose sleep over the attempt by Mahere to wrestle the constituency from him.

“I grew up in Mt Pleasant and have been representing the constituency in the past five years. I know the constituency in and out, even from my days outside politics. I do not have a cyber appreciation of the matters in Mt Pleasant; rather, I have a real life understanding of this place like the back of my palm. So any challenge by a political minion like Mahere is nothing to me,” said Passade.

Only a few days ago, Mahere’s bid to hold a rally at the Newlands Traffic Cycle on Enterprise Road flopped because she overrated her popularity based on social media discourse. Politics and voting does not happen on Twitter or Facebook. Everything happens on the ground and the issues that affect the voters are not found on Twitter. Her obsession with the social media is giving her a very false interpretation of the reality. Come election day, she will cry,” continued Passade.

Passade won the constituency from Jameson Timba of the then troubled Movement for Democratic Change.

“From the 21 000 strong legion of registered voters, I do not expect to get anything less than 13 000,” said Passade.

The constituency is made up of two wards, namely ward 7 and ward 17, covering areas which include Avondale, Morris Depot, Harare Remand Prison, Tomlinson Depot, Strathaven, Mt Pleasant, Alexandra Park and parts of Belgravia among others.