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Court Reporter
THE case of three members of an alleged poaching syndicate that used cyanide to kill elephants at the Hwange National Park has been transferred from Hwange to Bulawayo regional court. This followed a successful application by Mr Dumisani Dube of Cheda and Partners to have his clients Farai Chitsa (34), Sipho Mafu (54) and Misheck Mafu (46), moved from Hwange and stand trial in Bulawayo.
The trial of the three had failed to start on two occasions because they were remanded at Khami Remand Prison and could not be moved to Hwange on time.
Hwange regional magistrate Mrs Rose Dube granted the application yesterday and Chitsa and the Mafu brothers will appear at the Bulawayo regional court on Thursday.
Mr Dube submitted that his clients had the right to be tried in Bulawayo where their witnesses were.
Chitsa, a businessman residing at House Number 6297 Old Pumula, Sipho of Sakhile Line and Misheck of Thula Line in Tsholotsho are being charged with contravening a section of the Parks and Wildlife Act and that of the Environmental Management Agency Act.
Allegations are that on 27 August this year, game rangers at Hwange National Park got a tip-off that there were poachers in the game park and a team was dispatched to investigate.
The court was told that the team tracked footprints to Sipho’s homestead, who allegedly admitted to killing five elephants and led the police to where he had hidden the tusks.
Sipho implicated his brother Misheck, who upon arrest the following day implicated Chitsa.
The court was told that investigators told Misheck to phone Chitsa, who was in Bulawayo on the pretext that he wanted to sell him some tusks, and Chitsa drove from Bulawayo to Phelandaba in Tsholotsho where he was ambushed and arrested by rangers at about 2am.
The three allegedly targeted pools frequented by elephants at the national park and it is alleged that Chitsa paid the two brothers $900 to poison water sources with cyanide-laced salt, which has resulted in the death of 109 jumbos.
The syndicate has allegedly been operating for the past five years.
Four members of the syndicate have since been jailed.
Mr Bheki Tshabalala is representing the State.
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