TWO Port Elizabeth men have been sentenced in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court in connection with the theft of elephant tusks from Kwandwe Game Reserve in July.

Confirming the details on Friday, senior state advocate Buks Coetzee said Mbulelo Mgxoteni and his nephew, Thembela Msila, had been charged with breaking and entering, and with illegal possession of two tusks.

They were each jailed for a year on the first count, suspended for three years, and sentenced to a R9000 fine or 18 months in prison on the second count. Two thirds of the fine was suspended, so they were fined R3000. Both men had pleaded guilty.

The theft plan began when Msila, a former employee, started trying to get information on elephant tusks from a reserve worker, Coetzee explained.

After the initial contact, he had put his uncle in contact with the employee. In the meantime, the employee had communicated with management and the police had been alerted.

A trap was set, with the two elephant tusks left in an office on the reserve to which Msila and Mgxoteni had obtained a key.

“On the night of July 18, they broke in and stole the tusks, and they were then stopped at the gates as they attempted to leave.”

Asked about the apparently light sentence considering concerns about poaching, Coetzee said various circumstances were taken into account, including that both accused were first-time offenders, and had gained nothing from the foiled theft bid and that no animals were killed. They were also not apparently part of any syndicate.

Msila was working as a security guard at the time of the incident, while Mgxoteni was a construction worker.