7 foreign nationals convicted for attempting to smuggle sables to South Africa
The six (6) South Africans and one (1) Zimbabwean that were arrested by Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) on October 9, 2015, have by convicted by the Subordinate Court in Monze.
The accused, all adult males, namely: Francoise Petrus Grobler, 24, a wildlife relocator, Stephanus Potgieter, 56, a commercial farmer, Pieter Schalk Glrobler, 32, a wildlife relocator,Peter Burger, 21, a driver, Jan David Potgieter, 31a pilot, Damina Le Roux, 25, a game capturer aged, and Tapera Munyaradzi, 36, general worker, pleaded guilty to all the 13 counts to which they were charged.
The suspects were fined a total sum amounting to ZMK 200,000.00.
This was imposed in a judgement where Honouarble Mikalile, the presiding Magistrate passed yesterday, on December 8, 2015.
Francois Grobler, and six others were found guilty of violating the provisions of the Zambia Wildlife Act, No. 12 of 1998, the Firearms Act, Cap 110, Civil Aviations Act Cap 444, and Immigrations and Deportation Act No.18 of 2010 of the Laws of Zambia, and in particular, they were charged with the following offences:
Unlawful possession of prohibited article contrary to Section 37(1)(a)(b)(c) and (2) of the Firearms Act.
Unlawful Possession of ammunitions contrary to Section 10(1)(2)(a) of the Firearms Act.
Unlawful possession of live protected animals contrary to Section 101 and Section 136(1) of the Zambia Wildlife Authority Act as read with Statutory Instrument No. 80 of 1993;
Attempting to export live protected animals contrary to Section 111(1)(a)(b) and Section 131(a) of the Zambia Wildlife Act as read with Statutory Instrument No. 80 of 1993;
Making of a false statement to an immigration officer contrary to Section 52(4)(a) and Section 56(1) of the Immigration and Deportation Act No. 18 of 2010 of the Laws of Zambia;
and, failure to obey flight rules of the Air regulations Contrary to Section 4 of the Aviation Act.
Particulars of offence are that on the 9th day of October, 2015 all the accused persons were intercepted at a bush airstrip inside Kota Kota Game Ranch in Gwembe district of the Southern Province of the Republic of Zambia in possession of 12 live sable antelopes loaded in a horse trailer.
A plane was also on site with its inside modified by way of removing all passenger seats and fixing of cushions on its floor and putting blinds on the windows.
The flight plan did not show or allow them to land at Kota Kota but land at Choma or alternatively Livingstone.
There were also two vehicles on site one of which was used to pull the trailer containing the sables and the other used to work on the airstrip to make it smooth for easy take off by plane.
The stock movement permit as issued by the Lusaka District Veterinary in the name of Dries Scoltz, (another game farmer) indicated that the sables were moving from Kyindu ranch in Chongwe to Daraun farm in Livingstone.
It turned out that this does not belong to Dries Scoltz though it’s a business name Dries Scoltz uses in South Africa.
Furthermore one of the suspect namely Francois Grobler had a game permit issued in his name by Swanvest purporting to show that he was the owner of the 12 sables found with the accused persons.
Records show that a South African Trust company called Soutpansberg bought 30 sables from Swanvest and the funds transaction was done within South Africa for the purchase of the sables as both the seller and buyer reside in South Africa. However, there is a ban on the importation of sables in South Africa.
An affidavit sworn by Christian Visser, owner of Swanvest (the animals) purported to show that the Trust had assigned or hired Pieter Schalk to travel to Zambia and collect the 30 sables and deliver them to the farm of Dries Scoltz in Livingstone.
However, Dries Scoltz denied any knowledge of the sables coming to his farm.
The accused entered Zambia in two groups, one by road on through Kazungula on September 26, 2015 with the two vehicles and the trailer and the other group flew in through Kenneth Kaunda International Airport on October 6, 2015.
All the convicts falsely declared themselves to the immigration officers at the points of entry either as tourists or normal visitors. Meanwhile, all the items that were suspected to have been used in the commission of the offences have been forfeited to the State.
These include an aeroplane, three motor vehicles, horse trailer, a firearm (pistol) with fifty-six rounds of ammunition, dart gun, and various animal capture equipment, including the seven (7) surviving juvenile sable antelopes that are currently being kept in Mundawanga
