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Court Reporter
A total of 116 elephants died as a result of poisoning of water bodies by poachers in the Hwange National Park during the past eight months, a senior Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority security officer told police.
In a statement to the police during investigation after 41 elephants were found dead last week, Mr Amos Gwema, the authority’s senior investment and security officer said 97 of the cases were linked to three of the poachers who were rounded up last week after poisoning 41 elephants with salt laced with cyanide.
“Since January 2013, 116 elephants died in Mokona area through poisoning and 97 of these cases are linked to the accused persons who applied cyanide and killed 41 elephants,” said Mr Gwema.
“Zimbabwe is a member of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of fauna and flora (Cites), an international body regulating trade in wild animals and agreements between governments and what is happening is threatening these animals’ survival. We suspect the number of poisoned animals will keep growing as investigations are still ongoing,” said Mr Gwema.
Three of the six men who were arrested last week appeared before Tsholotsho resident magistrate, Mr Carrington Karidzangundi, on Friday.
The trio is being charged with contravening Section 24(1)(b) of the Parks and Wildlife Act, Chapter 20:14 ‘hunting without authority’ and Section 73(1) of the Environmental Management Agency Act, Chapter 20:27.
Brothers Sipho Mafu (54), of Sakhile Line in Tsholotsho, Misheck Mafu (46) of Thula Line also in Tsholotsho and Farai Chitsa (34), of House Number 6297 Old Pumula were not asked to plead and were remanded in custody to 20 September.
Mr Liberty Mcijo, of Lazarus and Sarif is representing the trio.
Ms Liane Nkomo for the State said on 27 August this year, game rangers at Hwange National Park got a tip off that there were poachers in the game park.
A team of rangers comprising officers from Lodzi Safaris, Tsholotsho Rural District Council Campfire and Hwange National Park was dispatched and it noticed footprints of poachers.
The court was told that the team tracked the footprints, which led to Sipho Mafu’s homestead on 29 August.
It is alleged that upon questioning Mafu admitted to killing five elephants and led the police to where he had hidden the tusks.
Nine elephant tusks weighing 57.8kg and worth $14 450 were allegedly recovered hidden in a shallow hole near the Hwange National Park.
Mafu was then arrested and he implicated his brother Misheck, who upon arrest the following day implicated Chitsa, who he said was in the business of buying the tusks.
The court was told that Misheck was used by the investigators to phone Chitsa who was in Bulawayo on the pretext that he wanted to sell him some tusks.
Chitsa later allegedly hired a kombi and lied to the owner that he wanted to carry his relatives to a funeral at Pelandaba area in Tsholotsho.
The court was told that Chitsa arrived in Tsholotsho at about 2am and the rangers ambushed and arrested him together with three others, namely Deroy Tinashe Semwayo, who is the owner of the kombi from North End, its driver Alexander Ngwenya of Tshabalala and a friend Nqobizitha Tshuma also from North End.
The four were taken to Hwange National Park Base Camp before being taken to surrounding villages for identification by villagers, but they turned out to be strangers.
Investigations showed that 41 elephants with a compensatory value of about $ 2 million had been killed as a result of cyanide poisoning.
Only 15 tusks out of a possible 82 from the 41 elephants were recovered.
The court was told that further investigation showed that more elephants were lost as Mafu, his brother Misheck and Chitsa allegedly targeted pools frequented by elephants at the national park and poisoned the water.
Witnesses said the poachers would camp in the national park tracking down the jumbos to the water sources.
On the charge of violating a section of EMA Act, Mafu is being charged together with Nqobile Hlongwane aka Bha and Tshuma after it emerged that he was on the forefront of the poisoning and allegedly setting fire on the places where they applied cyanide to leaking points on the water pipeline and other water sources.
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