Bulawayo Deputy Mayor acquitted in US$20K bribery ...

Bulawayo Deputy Mayor acquitted in US$20K bribery case

Rutendo Mazhindu

Zim Now Reporter

Bulawayo’s deputy mayor Edwin Ndlovu was acquitted Wednesday of allegations that he demanded a US$20,000 bribe from a company seeking land to build a cement plant, after a magistrate ruled the State’s case had collapsed. The verdict is a significant blow to the prosecution, which relied heavily on a handwritten document as its key piece of evidence.

Magistrate Richard Ramaboea said the prosecution’s case was fundamentally flawed due to the unreliability of this document, which allegedly listed the councillors who were set to benefit from the payout. Prosecutors had alleged that Ndlovu and Ward 3 councillor Mpumelelo Moyo, chair of the Finance and Development Committee, solicited the bribe from Labenmon Investments in exchange for facilitating the approval of a 5.6-hectare piece of land in Cowdray Park.

The State had relied on the testimony of forensic handwriting expert Kurauone Madziranyika, who claimed that handwriting samples from Ndlovu matched the disputed document. However, contradictions emerged during the trial when Labenmon representative Tsitsi Mapfumo testified that she had written the first part of the document herself.

In his ruling, Ramaboea highlighted the critical flaw in the expert testimony: “The only evidence linking the accused to the offence was exhibit number five. Yet the expert concluded the whole document was written by one person. If we accept that, then both the accused and the witness share the same handwriting, which is impossible.” This contradiction fatally undermined the State's case, leading to Ndlovu's acquittal.

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) had mounted a sting operation in 2024 that led to the arrest of Ndlovu and Moyo shortly after they allegedly took possession of the money at Mapfumo’s house. With Ndlovu now cleared, the focus shifts to his co-accused, Councillor Moyo, who is scheduled to present his defense on August 25. Moyo's lawyer, Prince Butshe Dube, will need to explain why his client was at the complainant’s house and why two witnesses claim to have seen him with the cash.