Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Edwin Ndlovu and chairperson of the council Finance and Development Committee, Councillor Mpumelelo Moyo yesterday appeared in court and were remanded in custody to 30 November.
The duo appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mrs Evia Matura
on charges of bribery as defined in Section 170 of the Criminal Law
Codification Act.
They were represented by Mr Prince Butshe Dube of Mathonsi
Law Chambers who was representing Moyo and Mr Zibusiso Ncube of Ncube and
Partners who was representing Ndlovu.
The two accused who arrived at court immaculately dressed
in matching grey suits, with Clr Moyo putting on a neck tie while Clr Ndlovu
was was not.
They were accompanied by Zacc detectives. The prosecutor,
Mr Acumen Khupe told the court that during the period extending from 10 October
to 14 November 2024 in Bulawayo, Clr Moyo who is the first accused, and Clr
Ndlovu solicited a bribe of US$20 000 from Tsitsi Mapfumo who is the
co-ordinator for a Chinese Company called Labenmon Investments (Private)
Limited Company.
The bribe which the duo allegedly demanded was on the
pretext that it was a reward for the 20 councillors who facilitated and
approved the allocation of 5,6 hectares of land to Labenmon for the
construction of a cement mixing plant.
“The complainant (Mapfumo) managed to positively identify
the accused persons, a copy of the list 20 councillors purported to be given
the USD20 000 written by the accused two (Ndlovu), two 10 dollar notes used for
the trap recovered from accused 1 and a tablet which was used for communication
which was recovered from accused 1, will be presented as evidence,” said Khupe.
Labenmon Investments initially made an application, without
success, for 10 hectares of land to the Bulawayo City Council for a cement
mixing plant.
The company resubmitted the application in April 2024 and
was offered 5,.6 hectares.
It is alleged that after Labenmon Investments received an
offer letter, the accused persons approached Mapfumo demanding a reward of
US$20 000 cash on behalf of other 20 councillors for facilitating the approval.
The two were arrested by officers from the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) last Thursday. Sunday News
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