Harare - Reports that President Robert Mugabe ate elephant and lion meat at his birthday party in Victoria Falls made headlines around the world.
But the Zimbabwean leader didn’t have an exotic meal and feasted on beef and pap at a banquet to celebrate his 91st birthday at the end of February.
Now the man who began the elephant yarn, Tendai Musasa, 39, has appeared in court in Victoria Falls, accused of taking a 950kg (stale) elephant carcass, shot by the Parks Authority, and trying to give it to Mugabe for his birthday party several days later.
The Bulawayo Chronicle reported that Musasa was jointly charged with stealing an elephant carcass with a local villager, Noah Zulu, 41.
In the Victoria Falls Magistrate’s Court, prosecutor Listen Nare said that on February 25, rangers shot and killed an elephant which was causing problems for the Woodlands community in Victoria Falls.
The Parks and Wildlife Authority handed the carcass to the community, and the state claims that the two men then stole it.
Magistrate Sharon Rosemani adjourned the case to August 19.
Musasa is also charged with a second crime of obstructing the course of justice, after he allegedly sent WhatsApp messages to Victoria Falls District Chief Superintendent Jairos Chiwona claiming first lady Grace Mugabe would ensure that the carcass theft charges would not proceed.
Matetsi National Park area manager Nomsa Moyo said no one was allowed to donate a whole carcass unless he or she had a hunting quota.
The story of Mugabe and the elephants began early in February when Musasa told journalists he would give Mugabe an elephant and lion to eat at the birthday bash.
But he then disappeared and the hotel catering manager where the banquet was due to be held told The Star at the time that it knew nothing about any elephant meat and could not cope with a carcass that size anyway.
Independent Foreign Service