Bulawayo firms in court for selling cyanide

Court Reporter
TWO Bulawayo companies have been dragged to court for illegally dealing in cyanide, as investigations to establish the origins of the chemical that was allegedly used to poison about 109 elephants intensify.

Gilles Investment and Tierra Marketing Private Limited appeared separately before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Gladmore Mushove charged with contravening Section 137(1)(1) of the Environmental Management Act, Chapter 20:27.

The Act prohibits storing, selling hazardous substances in unlabelled or improperly labelled containers or at unlicensed premises.

Gilles Investments, situated along Josiah Chinamano Street, is being represented by Mr Tinomuvongaishe Dube while Tierra Marketing, also located along the same street, is being represented by Ms Chipo Muchengeti.

The cases continue today.

The court was told that the investigating team comprising detectives, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority officials visited the companies seeking to establish whether they supplied poachers with cyanide.

At Gilles Investment, it is alleged that the team recovered 500ml of nitric acid and 15 litres of cyanide while at Tierra Marketing receipts showed that several mines had bought different amounts of cyanide between August and September this year.

The court was told that the team picked four mines at random which were then investigated to see if the cyanide they bought from the company was being used for mining.

The mines are Jena in Silobela, Partridge and Fernhill in Esigodini and Dingani in Insiza district.

Representing Tierra, Mr Jonathan Tsvangirai, of Dube-Tachiona and Tsvangirai Legal Practitioners said his client sold the chemical to known customers.

He said it was wrong to link the company to the poisoning of elephants at Hwange National Park, Ngamo Forest and Bulilima District and the chemical was broken into smaller quantities because miners were not able to buy it in large quantities which are usually in tonnes.

The prosecutor, Mr Kudakwashe Jaravaza, told the court that the fact that the cyanide was sold during a certain period of time showed that the company had a hidden agenda and could be linked to cyanide poisoning.

"While the State is not linking the company to the current events, the company should have known that it was dealing in a hazardous substance with far reaching consequences and not labelling it can be taken to have been something done selfishly," he said.

Meanwhile, a Tsholotsho man from Sifulasengwe Village under Chief Siphoso also appeared in court in Hwange yesterday for allegedly possessing 500 grammes of cyanide.

Mabandla Tshuma (59) was remanded in custody to today.