Former Minister Reportedly Now In Hiding In Burundi, Wanted For Theft Of Elephant Meat
Former Minister of State for Manicaland Province Mandi Chimene is reported to have fled to Burundi fearing arrest for crimes committed under her tenure in President Robert Mugabe’s government According to a source who spoke to the weekly newspaper, The Standard, Chimene has since made her way to Burundi after leaving Mocambique. Chimene was an avowed critic of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
She is wanted on charges of criminal abuse of office after she allegedly commandeered elephant meat for her own consumption from Cecil Kop Nature Reserve in Mutare. The meat was valued at $1 800. Michael Peter Hitschmann, the member in charge of Cecil Kop Nature Reserve filed two criminal abuse of office charges against Chimene last week.
Part of his statement reads:
On July 24, 2017, two adult elephants were shot dead at Cecil Kop following a fatal attack on Support Unit Constable Dambe on July 18, 2017. The carcasses of these elephants were then being processed to remove the meat for sale with all proceeds to go to Cecil Kop Nature Reserve as these elephants were their property.
I was advised by Dominic Mubvanyika [Parks and Wildlife Management Authority officer-in-charge] that Mandiitawepi Chimene was demanding a full truckload of elephant meat at no charge for her personal use and that she had instructed him to collect it immediately from Cecil Kop and deliver it to her. He did so at around 4:30 pm on the same day, July 24.
The second charge comes after Chimene threated to distribute the land at the nature reserve to Zanu-PF youth supporters. Chimene claimed that the land in question was being wasted and that it should be divided into residential stands for youths.
More: The Standard
