A Zimbabwean woman has been sentenced to four years in jail and fined P20 000 for possession of an elephant tusk.
The Plumtree native, Nokuthula Sithembile Khumalo, 37, was caught by the cops with a single tusk at Nswazwi Mall near Chicken Licken on June , 29, 2024.
During the arrest she was with her nephew, Gilbert Tasiiwa who was also arrested and later discharged as he knew nothing about the tusk.
According to court, Tasiiiwa just met Khumalo at the mall to buy shoes and she gave him a bag to carry for her.
When they were still at the mall police officers pounced on them and searched the blue bag in which they found a 12.5kg sack of maize meal containing one whitish object wrapped with 3 different cloths.
Khumalo then told the police it was her tusk and that she got it in Plumtreee, Zimbabwe and had asked her nephew to assist in carrying it.
The tusk was taken to the Bureau of Standards, and it weighed 5.3kg. Before sentence was passed, Khumalo pleaded for a leniency stating that she is a first offender.
“I am asking for forgiveness, and this is my first time clashing with the law and I will never do that again,” she said.
Her mitigation was fruitless as she was fined P20 000 and thrown in jail for four years.
