Christopher Malasa Mandaya made his second appearance at the Victoria Falls Magistrates Court on Wednesday, but was not asked to plead to any of the charges. He was further remanded in custody by regional magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa. His trial will begin on 1 March.
Mandaya is alleged to be part of a large syndicate of Zambian poachers who crossed into Zimbabwe on 6 February with the intention of poaching in the Zambezi National Park.
He was arrested during a gun-battle between his group and Zimbabwean police and game rangers in the Jambezi Communal Lands, about 25km east of the resort town.
He was found with an AK-47 rifle and 25 rounds of live ammunition, two kilogrammes of dagga, two axes and several butcher knives.
On Saturday, game rangers in Hwange National Park shot and killed another Zambian poacher – the fifth to be killed in the country since January – while two of his colleagues escaped arrest. The poachers fled leaving behind a dead elephant, which was recovered with the tusks still intact.
Meanwhile, the Victoria Falls-based conservation group Bhejane Trust has reported the removal of 3.3 kilometres of illegal fishing nets cast in Zambezi river on the Zimbabwean side of the Kazungula sector.
Trust co-chairman Trevor Lane said fishermen paddled across the river into Zambia in canoes as the nets were being pulled out of the river by Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (PWMA). The PWMA was assisted to remove the nets by Joe Rainsford, a Zimbabwean fisherman based at Victoria Falls town.
