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Fungai Lupande Court Reporter
A drug peddlar who advertised his child’s birthday party on fliers promising lots of drugs will spend three and half years in jail for smoking weed and drinking BronCleer cough syrup with friends at the event held on Valentine’s Day.

Widds Mashonga (33) pleaded not guilty to dealing in dangerous drugs, but was convicted after a full trial.

Harare magistrate Mr Lazini Ncube sentenced Mashonga to four years in prison before suspending six months for three years on condition of good behaviour.

Mashonga was found in possession 3,8 kilogrammes of mbanje and 17 bottles of the cough syrup.BronCleer, commonly known as Bronco, is popular with youths who abuse the cough syrup to get high.

In aggravation, prosecutor Ms Francesca Mukumbiri said Mashonga was not only smoking weed, but selling it to youths.

“The police who arrested him said three quarters of the crowd at the birthday party was intoxicated with weed and Bronco,” said Ms Mukumbiri. “Dagga is a mood altering drug and it has negative health effects on the consumer.

“As a youth leader, Mashonga was supposed to lead by example. What was he teaching the youth by exposing them to drugs?”

At around 9pm on Valentine’s Day, the police received information that Mashonga was selling drugs at a “passa passa” night.A “passa passa” night is a street party whose origins are in Jamaica.

The police reacted to the information and went to Mashonga’s house at No 4 Rusitu Road, Mabvuku, Harare.They searched a tuckshop at the house and found a plastic bag containing loose dagga and BronCleer.

Mashonga led police officers into his bedroom where they recovered another plastic bag containing dagga from a chest of drawers and another one under a pillow.Three more plastic bags were recovered from the top of his wardrobe, and another in between the bed and wardrobe.

In addition to the dagga which weighed 3,837kg, 17 bottles of BronCleer were also recovered.Mashonga had no prescription for the cough syrup.