Suspected croc slayer in court

2006-11-14 13:36

Nkosana ka Makaula

Tonga - Mpumalanga's self-styled Crocodile Dundee has been hauled before court on charges of the illegal hunting of endangered game.

Robert Khoza, 60, and his co-accused, Alex Masinga, 58, were not asked to plead when they appeared in the Tonga magistrate's court on Monday. The case was postponed to November 22 and they are being kept in custody.

Their appearance follows Khoza's claim the he killed a crocodile with a panga on October 22. He claimed that he had been fetching water from the Mlumati River in Mpumalanga when the crocodile grabbed his leg.

He claimed that he used the panga to hack at the reptile and free himself.

"Eventually, I thrust the panga down the crocodile's throat. The battle lasted for four hours," he said when journalists interviewed him at the time.

The subsequent postmortem failed to find the panga inside the reptile, though a fishing net was found around the crocodile's mouth and there was a snare around its neck, suggesting that the crocodile had been trapped.

Police arrested Khoza and Masinga, who is accused of helping to trap the crocodile.

Tonga police spokesperson, Constable Mzwandile Nyambi, said the scratch marks on Khoza's leg were not compatible with a crocodile attack.

"There is no way a crocodile's teeth could leave such small scratches on a person's leg. This man is just taking chances. He will have to prove in court where the panga disappeared to after the reptile had swallowed it, as he says," said Nyambi.

- African Eye