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Mashudu Netsianda/Leonard Ncube Senior Reporters
CONTROVERSIAL hunter Theodore Albert Christian Bronkhorst has appeared in court facing fresh charges of unlawfully breeding 42 sables at his plot in Douglasdale, Bulawayo. According to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) and the Veterinary department, the animals, which were brought from Tethford Estate in Mazowe, were destined for Musuna Ranch in Matabeleland North.

Bronkhorst, 52, of Riverside suburb appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Tinashe Tashaya on Friday facing charges of breeding wildlife without a permit and failure to observe the terms and conditions of his licence granted in terms of section 123 (9) of the Parks and Wildlife Act.

He was remanded out of custody to October 19 for trial. Prosecuting, Taurai Hondoyemoto said on September 26 last year, Bronkhorst obtained a permit from ZimParks to translocate 24 sables from Tethford Estate in Mazowe to Musuna Ranch.

The court heard that he then later secured another supporting permit from the Veterinary department allowing him to transport the animals to Musuna Ranch. Instead of transporting the animals to Musuna, he allegedly diverted them to Douglasdale on the strength of the two documents.

Three days later, Bronkhorst took another 18 sables from the same estate in Mazowe and again translocated them to Douglasdale. “During the period extending from January 1 to September 18, 2015, four of the sables died and five others were born. Bronkhorst would also from time to time bring in stockfeed to feed the animals which he was illegally keeping at his plot without a ZimParks permit,” said Hondoyemoto.

Bronkhorst who is also accused of conniving with three South African nationals, Edwin Hewitt, 49, Hedrick Blignaut, 41, and John Herbert Pretorius, 49, to smuggle 29 sables worth $435,000 into South Africa, was on Tuesday granted $500 bail by a Beitbridge magistrate. He is charged for allegedly conspiring to smuggle wildlife and unlawful movement of the animals to South Africa through an illegal exit point along the Limpopo River. His trial date was set for October 5.

Bronkhorst, through his lawyer Advocate Perpetual Dube, argued that the State had no evidence that he conspired with the three foreigners. The professional hunter is also on bail in a case in which he is facing charges of carrying an illegal hunt that resulted in the killing of the famous lion, Cecil, in Hwange National Park by an American dentist, Walter Palmer. Cecil was killed using a bow and arrow.

Bronkhorst’s trial kicks-off today at the Hwange magistrate’s court. He owns Bushmen Safaris and is out of custody on $1,000 bail in the Cecil case. Magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa on August 5, postponed to today the start of the trial after defence lawyer, Givemore Muvhiringi of Dube and Company in Victoria Falls, applied for a postponement on the grounds that he had roped in Advocate Dube of the Advocate Chambers in Bulawayo because of the complexity of the case.

Adv Dube was tied up at the Supreme Court then and indicated she would only be available today.