Two men from Kwalala Village 5 under Chief Shana in Jambesi have been sentenced to an effective eight months in prison after pleading guilty to setting eight wire snares, one of which caught and killed a female kudu valued at US$3,000.
Given Tshuma, 50, and Onias Ncube, 45, appeared before Victoria Falls magistrate Fungai Dzimiri on Thursday facing a charge of setting Class One wire snares in contravention of Section 81C of the Parks and Wildlife Act, Chapter 20:14.
According to the State outline, Tshuma and Ncube are both male adults residing at their own homesteads in Kwalala Village 5, under village head Joe Shoko, Cross Mununa, Chief Shana, Jambesi. Both were unemployed.
The State alleges that on 11 September 2026, the two men travelled to the Bingwa area in Chief Shana, Jambesi, where they acted together to set eight Class One wire snares for the purpose of trapping animals.
One of the snares caught a female kudu and killed it.
The State said the recovered exhibits included eight wire snares, an axe, two catapults and four knives.
The kudu carcass and semi-fresh kudu meat were also recovered and taken for examination.
The carcass and meat weighed 24.70kg, according to the State case, while the value of the killed kudu was assessed at US$3,000.
The two men pleaded guilty to the charge and were treated as first-time offenders.
During mitigation, Tshuma and Ncube told the court that they were unemployed and had resorted to the activity in an effort to raise money to pay school fees for their children.
They also told the court that they were family men.
The State was represented by prosecutor Cynthia Mayibongwe Makhaya.
Magistrate Fungai Dzimiri sentenced each man to 12 months’ imprisonment.
However, four months of the sentence were suspended for five years on condition that they do not commit the same offence.
This left each of the men with an effective eight-month prison term.
The kudu was also forfeited to the State.