Online Reporter
Danisa Masuku
WARD 26 councillor Mpumelelo Moyo will spend the next year behind bars after being sentenced to 18 months in jail for demanding a US$20 000 bribe to push through land approval for a cement plant project in Cowdray Park.
Bulawayo Provincial magistrate Richard Ramaboea suspended six months on condition that Moyo does not commit a similar offence within five years, leaving him to serve 12 effective months.
The court heard that Moyo, who chaired the powerful Finance and Development Committee, solicited the bribe from Labenmon Investments to facilitate the approval of a 5.6-hectare plot.
In a dramatic sting, company representative Tsitsi Nyathi lured Moyo to her house with the promised cash, allowing Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) officers to arrest him moments after he received the money.
Moyo was initially jointly charged with Deputy Mayor Edwin Ndlovu, who later walked free after the State failed to directly link him to the offence.
Magistrate Ramaboea said custodial sentences were the norm for public officials involved in bribery and stressed that the Government was serious about rooting out corruption.
Moyo was represented by lawyer Prince Butshe of Butshe and Associates.
