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Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
HWANGE Football Club player Craven Banda has been sentenced to the mandatory nine years in jail for illegal possession of elephant tusks after a magistrate dismissed his story that the bag of ivory he was holding at a bus stop had been dumped by strangers.

Banda (35) of N2 Lusumbami Village and employed by Hwange Colliery Company, was arrested in May after ZimParks received a tip-off that he was in possession of tusks.

An anti-poaching team comprising police and ZimParks officers cornered him in Makwika Village where they found him with the tusks.

Banda pleaded not guilty to the acquisition, possession or transfer of unregistered raw ivory without a permit.

He appeared before Matabeleland North magistrate-in-charge, Mrs Sekai Chiundura.

He told the court that the bag had been left by “some people” who ran away when they saw the ZimParks car coming.

But he was convicted after a full trial and sentenced to the nine years in jail.

Prosecuting, Mr John Chisango Mutyakaviri, said Banda failed to produce a permit allowing him to possess ivory.

“On May 24, ZimParks rangers received information that there was a person with a bag containing ivory at Makwika Bus Stop in Hwange,” he said.

“They teamed up with police detectives and rushed to Makwika bus stop where they found the accused sitting alone at the bus stop bench with a blue bag on his lap.

“They asked to search the bag and discovered that there were eight pieces of ivory inside the bag. The team asked for a permit authorising the accused to possess ivory, but he did not have it.”

Banda was then arrested and taken to the police and the ivory weighed 9,405kg and its value was not given.

Banda was a key left-back for Hwange FC for more than 10 years and also played in Botswana where he was on loan to Motlakase Power Dynamos between 2011 and 2013.

Last year, he was playing for Makomo FC in the Southern Region Zifa Division 1 league before returning to the coalminers for the 2020 season.