{"id":2634,"date":"2026-08-23T18:24:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T18:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/?p=2634"},"modified":"2026-08-23T18:24:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T18:24:33","slug":"bulawayo-deputy-mayor-arrested-over-alleged-us52000-lease-extortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/08\/23\/bulawayo-deputy-mayor-arrested-over-alleged-us52000-lease-extortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Arrested Over Alleged US$52,000 Lease Extortion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Fanuel Chinowaita<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"246\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thewasupost.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Bulawayo-DM.jpg?resize=246%2C169&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2635\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong> Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Edwin Ndlovu<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>BULAWAYO, 23 August 2026<\/strong> \u2014 Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has arrested Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Edwin Ndlovu, Ward 28 Councillor Ntandoyenkodi Ndlovu and former Ward 22 Councillor Rodney Jele over allegations of extortion linked to a 50-year lease agreement for a hotel development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement, ZACC said the three allegedly demanded <strong>US$52,000<\/strong> from a local businessman in August 2026 in exchange for not cancelling a lease agreement entered into in March 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cInvestigations revealed that sometime in August 2026, the accused persons allegedly demanded US$52,000.00 from a local businessman in exchange for not cancelling a lease agreement entered into in March 2023,\u201d ZACC said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the anti-graft body, the accused allegedly told the businessman that an unnamed individual was offering them US$52,000 to have the lease cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They allegedly advised the complainant to match the amount if he wanted to retain the lease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The businessman subsequently reported the matter to ZACC, which set a trap that resulted in the arrest of the three suspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The suspects are expected to appear before the <strong>Tredgold Magistrates Court in Bulawayo on Monday, 24 August 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The allegations have not yet been tested in court, and the three remain innocent until proven guilty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Fanuel Chinowaita BULAWAYO, 23 August 2026 \u2014 Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has arrested Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Edwin Ndlovu, Ward 28 Councillor Ntandoyenkodi Ndlovu and former Ward 22 Councillor Rodney Jele over allegations of extortion linked to a 50-year lease agreement for a hotel development. In a statement, ZACC said the three allegedly demanded US$52,000&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2636,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634\/revisions\/2636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}