A Mutare mushikashika driver who attacked a police officer during an operation targeting illegal passenger transport has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after the confrontation ended with the officer’s baton being used as a weapon.
Brendon Tsakatsa, 29, of Chikanga 1, was convicted by the Mutare Magistrates’ Court following an incident at Apex Service Station on 29 June 2026. The case came to wider public attention after a video showing a motorist assaulting a police officer circulated on social media.
The court imposed 10 months for assaulting or resisting a police officer, one month for carrying passengers without an operator’s licence and another month for stealing a police baton. The three terms bring the total sentence to 12 months in prison.
The assault involved Constable Maxwell Mukumbuzi, who was on duty as part of “Operation No to Mushikashika”. The operation was being conducted with Constables Machazi and Mazambara as police continued to enforce rules against unlicensed public transport operators and touting in Mutare.
According to the evidence presented in court, the confrontation began at about 10:20am when Mukumbuzi approached Tsakatsa, who was driving an AD van with registration number AHH 5611. The driver was allegedly shouting “One asara”, a phrase commonly used by mushikashika operators to indicate that a vehicle has one remaining passenger space.
The officer stood in front of the vehicle and told Tsakatsa that he was under arrest for touting. Tsakatsa stopped, got out of the van and walked towards Mukumbuzi. He then struck the officer several times with open hands, the court heard.
Mukumbuzi sustained injuries and was medically examined. A medical affidavit was produced in court as evidence of the injuries. The State maintained that the officer had been carrying out his duties lawfully when he approached Tsakatsa.
Tsakatsa faced the charge of assaulting or resisting a police officer under Section 176 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, also known as Chapter 9:23. He pleaded not guilty. He was initially brought before provincial magistrate Anne Ndiraya and was represented by Passmore Gwizo of Mugadza and Chinzamba Legal Practitioners.
Prosecutor Chris Munyuku told the court that Tsakatsa knew Mukumbuzi was a police officer, or at least realised there was a real risk that he was, when the assault took place. The prosecution’s case was that the accused deliberately used violence against an officer who was acting in the course of his duties.
The baton theft formed a separate part of the case. It was not merely alleged that Tsakatsa had fought with the officer and then fled. The court heard that he picked up an item belonging to the police during the assault and used it to strike Mukumbuzi before leaving the service station in the van.
The incident has placed renewed attention on the difficult relationship between law enforcement officers and mushikashika operators in urban areas. Informal transport services have become a familiar feature of Zimbabwe’s cities, but police operations against unlicensed vehicles have frequently produced tense encounters at ranks, service stations and busy roads. In this case, the dispute over touting escalated within moments from an attempted arrest into a physical attack, the theft of police equipment and the driver’s departure from the scene.
Tsakatsa’s arrest followed the circulation of the video. In an earlier account of the case, police confirmed that he had been arrested in connection with the 29 June incident and urged members of the public to use formal complaint channels if they were unhappy with police conduct rather than responding with violence or taking the law into their own hands.
The latest conviction also brings back a separate matter that placed Tsakatsa before the Mutare courts in 2025. In that case, he was accused of fraudulently selling an accident-damaged Honda Fit belonging to Dorcas Mapungwana to Tendai Muradi for US$1,500.
The 2025 court report stated that Muradi paid US$1,000 upfront on 5 February 2025 at Sanhanga Building in Mutare and later paid the balance. Mapungwana, however, had not given Tsakatsa permission to sell the vehicle, and the car was subsequently retrieved from Muradi. Tsakatsa was charged with fraud under Section 136 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act.
Tsakatsa disputed that account in court. He said Mapungwana had left the car and its log book in his possession after it had been involved in an accident in Penhalonga in which four people were injured. He said he believed Mapungwana had given him the vehicle and that he sold it to help cover medical expenses.
“When Mapungwana left the car and the book in my hands, we had once had a talk and she had given me the car. That’s why I sold it to cover off for the medical expenses of the four injured people. I even called her husband during the transaction. I initially called her thrice but did not answer. I am willing to pay Muradi for his loss and I have already brought the money,” he said.
Magistrate Xavier Chipato adjourned the fraud matter to 10 April 2025 for a final ruling. No later publicly available report confirming the outcome of that separate case was located in the records reviewed for this article. Supposedly the case was withdrawn.