adminPatrick Chitumba Senior Reporter
THE Bulawayo High Court has granted a provisional order barring a Zanu-PF councillor from interfering with the running of a lucrative safari business at Woodlands conservancy on the outskirts of Victoria Falls.
Justice Nokuthula Moyo yesterday ordered Elias Mzamba, the councillor for Matetsi Ward 1, and his associates who are war veterans aligned to the ruling party, to surrender a hunting quota for this year to a local company Words of Advice that is run by 118 resettled farmers, owners of the sanctuary.
Mzamba is alleged to have collected the animal reserve’s hunting quota for this year from the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority after a board he led was booted from Words of Advice following allegations of financial malpractice, fraud and poaching that were levelled against them.
After being expelled, the councillor and his associates are said to have collected the hunting quota for 2014 and permit for personal gain without shareholder approval, resulting in the dispute spilling into the courts.
“Failing paragraph 1 above the Sheriff, Victoria Falls, with the assistance of the Zimbabwe Republic Police are directed to seize the hunting quota and permit from Mzamba and deliver the documents to Words of Advice immediately,” reads part of Justice Moyo’s order.
The judge also ordered National Parks to issue a duplicate hunting quota and permit to the company if Cllr Mzamba can no longer produce the required documents.
“If Mzamba can no longer produce the document in question, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority be and is hereby ordered to issue a duplicate hunting quota permit for 2014 to Words of Advice and to nullify the previous quota and permit that was handed to Mzamba.”
In another blow to Cllr Mzamba, Bulawayo Regional Court Magistrate Crispen Mberewere also upheld the boardroom coup staged on him and his board by the resettled farmers, saying it was lawful and legally binding.
In his ruling, Mberewere deplored the lack of empathy shown by Cllr Mzamba and his dismissed board on the poor and vulnerable in the community running the conservancy.
“The case has highlighted a dearth of leadership by those charged with administration of government property in the area. Case in point being a DA’s office at Hwange Rural District Council that has helped itself to the community finances at the expense of community dividends unpaid for 19 months,” said Mberewere.
The latest action comes weeks after the Zanu-PF Politburo announced that top politicians should move out of Save Conservancy and the arrest of war veterans who had occupied sugar estates in the lowveld.
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