Chronicle Editor
Rutendo Nyeve recently in Hwange
MAGISTRATES, police officers and Zimparks rangers last Friday converged on Hwange National Park for an interactive session on how best they can work together to improve efficacy in handling crimes that involve wildlife.
Resident magistrates for Tsholotsho, Binga, Victoria Falls as well as Hwange, Zimparks officers and police officers in charge of stations around Hwange, CID Minerals, Flora and Fauna Unit (MFFU) held a workshop organised by Zimparks in partnership with IFAW that saw the parties deliberating various issues ranging from writing dockets, presenting evidence as well as the use of technology in wildlife crimes.
Zimparks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said the interaction was fruitful and came in handy for all parties as they exchanged notes on wildlife crime.
“We had a fruitful engagement with our counterparts in the law enforcement as well as the judiciary where we exchanged notes on various processes involved in wildlife crime. We had our officers in charge at our stations within Hwange who are the ones who conduct operations. We also had our investigations unit which is responsible for intelligence gathering outside parks, the ZRP and magistrates.
“We discussed various issues ranging from how we can use technology as admissible evidence in court, how we can carry out thorough investigations as well as coming up with victim impact assessment reports which are presented in court for consideration when sentencing,” said Mr Farawo.
He said the north-western part of the country where the Hwange National Park is located has a huge population of herbivores that are targets of poaching like the elephants.
As such, he said the police and Zimparks have been working together since 2019 under operation “nhaka yedu” where the police Support Unit as well as the duty uniformed branch carry out combined patrols with the Zimparks rangers.
The engagement workshop also saw Zimparks rangers having an understanding of various statutes of the law involved in wildlife crime.
Magistrates also took time during the engagement to enlighten their stakeholders who at times feel let down by the judiciary. They explained that particular crimes will be having mandatory sentences according to statutes which cannot be exceeded.
The engagement comes at a time legislators and other responsible authorities have been called upon to expedite the review of penalties relating to wildlife crimes, particularly poaching of elephants according to the Parks and Wildlife Act.–@nyeve14
Online Reporter