Tendai Charumbira
A former Simply Wildlife animal sanctuary supervisor on May 10, 2022 appeared before Masvingo Magistrate Farai Gwitima where he pleaded not guilty to charges of being found in possession of a leopard skin without a license and was remanded out of custody to May 26.
The State represented by prosecutor Godfrey Mugondo alleged that Elastos Mazorodze was found by new manager of the game reserve, Livison Phikelele in possession of two lion skins which were licensed and one unlicensed leopard skin.
The leopard skin was found in a room that was being used by Mazorodze’s children.
Phikelele witnessed the matter saying that procedurally they only keep Lions and Buffalos at Simply Wildlife but do not have leopards in captive and every animal that dies is recorded by the National Parks and Wildlife Management.
The leopard was not in the records.
In defense, Mazorodze stated that he joined Simply Wildlife in 2001 and that he found animal skins there which were left by the Sparrows who once owned the resort.
Recently a carcass of a white Rhinoceros was found in Bikita with gunshot wounds suspected to have been shot by poachers as wildlife poaching cases escalate in the country.
The carcass was covered with a black polythene plastic and some tree branches.
Leopard skin is used in African Traditional Religion (ATR) ceremonies by various cultural groups while it can also be sold as finished skins for home decoration or use in the creation of luxury carpets.
Possession of wildlife skins is prohibited under Zimbabwean law (Parks and Wildlife Act (Chap 20:14).
A Chiredzi villager from Gwachara village under Chief Tshovani was once arraigned before the courts for possessing Python skins in 2017 and the case spilled into the High Court.
