THREE South Africans accused of attempting to smuggle 29 sables out of Zimbabwe have been further remanded in custody to November 5.
The three — Edwin Hewitt, Hendricks Johannes Blignaut and John Herbert Pretorius — were remanded by Beitbridge provincial magistrate Willard Mafios Moyo on Wednesday after their lawyer Thabani Moyo failed to turn up due to other commitments in Harare.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

The trio was allegedly arrested last month after their trucks got stuck in the sand along Limpopo River while attempting to smuggle the sables using an undesignated point along the South Africa-Zimbabwe border.

The sables — seven males, 16 females and six calves — are reportedly valued at $$435 000 and are believed to have been destined for a farm in South Africa.

It is believed the animals were captured and transported from a private conservancy owned by a Mr Ian Parsons in the Lowveld.

Hewitt, Blignaut and Pretorius have since been formally charged with smuggling and moving animals without a permit as well as attempting to depart Zimbabwe through an undesignated exit point. Zimbabwean professional hunter Theodore Bronkhorst has also been charged for being an accomplice in the same matter and remanded to November 5 on $1 000 bail.

Bronkhorst faces a different charge of failing to prevent an illegal hunt and causing the killing of famous Hwange National Park lion, Cecil, by an American dentist in July this year.

The matter is also pending at the Hwange Magistrates’ Court.