http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...troversy-arrested-o/



Hunting guide embroiled in Cecil the lion controversy arrested over rare antelope death

Peta Thornycroft, johannesburg

29 OCTOBER 2016 • 11:42PM

A Zimbabwean hunter who was caught up in the ​Cecil the lion​ scandal was in prison this weekend after he was charged on Friday with illegally hunting a rare Antelope which is on the endangered species list.

While Zimbabwe has sufficient lions on its remaining wildlife land, Roan Antelope are seldom seen in national parks and conservancies in sub Saharan Africa and there are only about 70 left in the region’s largest conservancy, the Kruger National Park in neighbouring South Africa.

Headman Sibanda, 56, was arrested last Thursday after a tip off from rangers employed by Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.


He appeared in the Hwange Magistrate’s Court on Friday near Zimbabwe’s largest game reserve, the Hwange National Park.

His case is so serious he will only be able to apply for bail from the High Court next week and is presently being held in prison.


Hunting a Roan Antelope carries a maximum sentence of nine years in prison.

Mr Sibanda worked for Zimbabwe’s Parks authority for many years, and before that was a policeman, according to well known wildlife experts in Zimbabwe. “He helped write some of the wildlife laws in Zimbabwe,” said one of his former colleagues who asked not to be named.

After President Robert Mugabe ordered land invasions in 2000, Mr Sibanda took over a white-owned game wildlife property, Railway Farm, and formed a hunting company, Nyala Safari’s (Pvt) Ltd.

Last year he sold a permit for a lion to be hunted on that farm to a Zimbabwe safari company which was hired to host American dentist Walter Palmer who wanted to shoot a mature, big-maned lion with a bow and arrow.


The Zimbabwe safari company spent thousands of pounds on Mr Sibanda’s property preparing for that hunt which finally cost Dr Palmer about £55 000​ - although he did not shoot that lion, but Cecil on a different property.

Shortly before Dr Palmer arrived in Zimbabwe to shoot a lion, Mr Sibanda allegedly sold that permit to another American who he helped shoot a lion days before Cecil was killed on another farm ​- by Dr Palmer - in the same area.

With the world spotlight on Zimbabwe and lion shoots, Mr Sibanda was then arrested because he did not have a hunters' licence​, but was released without charge. He was previously convicted of shooting wildlife without a permit.​

Headman Sibanda wasn't involved with the Cecil case (the land "owner" there was the euphemistically named Honest Ndlovu) but Sibanda was implicated in a similar case at about the same time.

Sibanda was also implicated in a number of corrupt practices during his tenure as a Warden with Parks & Wildlife.

I remember on one occasion when Zimbabwe was still spelled with an "R" having to park my Land Rover on the way out of Chirisa toward Lusulu while no less than 80 roan crossed the road in front of me. Of course in those days driving between Makuti and Marongora it wasn't unusual to see a black rhino standing beside the road watching traffic go by either.

This news has made my year! Nasty character -lets hope the law has finally caught up with him and politics will not step in the way of a 9 year jail term!!!