Limpopo illegal hunters' care postponed
An SA National Parks employee and a hunter appeared in the Makhado Magistrate's Court in Limpopo on charges of illegal hunting, SANParks said on Friday.
The case against SANParks employee Michael Sematla was postponed to June 3 for trial, while the case against the hunter was postponed to April 6 for trial, spokesman Ike Phaahla said.
The two men and nine others were fined R37,000 by the court last month for hunting illegally on Den Staat farm near Musina, in Limpopo, Phaahla said at the time.
Sematla was also implicated in a number of illegal commercial hunting activities on the farm in January.
They each paid admission of guilt fines ranging from R1500 to R4500, depending on which animal they had hunted, Phaahla said.
All 11 had been charged with illegally hunting on the farm, which is part of an open system with the Mapungubwe National Park and is a World Heritage Site.
"The prosecution of the hunters and the SANParks employee follows months of investigations after a giraffe carcass was found with three bullet shots in the park," Phaahla said.
- Sapa