Chronicle Editor
Fairness Moyana in Hwange
TWO Forestry Commission employees landed themselves in trouble after helping themselves to meat from a dead Buffalo that had been killed by a lion in Dete District.
Enerst Dube (52) who is a supervisor at the Forestry Commission and his counterpart, Itai Bira (45), a driver appeared before provincial magistrate, Ms Fungai Dzimiri in Hwange for contravening Section 59 (1)(b) of the Parks and Wildlife Act, which prohibits the removal of any animal or part without a permit.
The duo pleaded guilty to the charge and were ordered each to pay a fine of US$150 failure to which would result in four months imprisonment.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), on 9 June at around 7am, Zimparks operatives received information that the two had taken meat from a Buffalo carcass killed by a lion at Miombo grid along Mpofu road in Dete to their places of residence.
“Zimparks operatives teamed up and reacted to the information. They managed to locate the two accused persons at their residence.
“They were asked to produce a permit which authorised them to possess Buffalo meat and they failed to do so leading to their arrest,” said NPA in a statement.
Dube and Bira were escorted to ZRP Hwange for further interrogation with the recovered meat, which weighed a combined 7.46kg and was produced in court as evidence.
Meanwhile, two Zambian nationals escaped jail after their four months’ sentence was wholly suspended for violating Immigration and Parks laws after illegally entering the country before going on a fishing expedition.
They appeared before the same magistrate and were convicted on their own plea of guilt. Kerby Ciyuni (37) of Mangombo village in Zambia and Defender Siakuku of Siakuku village both under Chief Mwembe were caught fishing using nets at the Devil’s Gorge in Zambezi River by Zimparks rangers on patrol.
They failed to produce a permit and further inquiries led to the discovery that they were Zambian nationals without travel documents that permitted them to be in Zimbabwe. They were subsequently arrested.
Online Reporter