Zimbabwe safari operator faces 12 counts of stock theft in US$472k case

GWANDA – A prominent safari operator, Timothy John Schultz, 57, from Khumalo, Bulawayo, is facing 12 counts of stock theft after allegedly stealing over 500 head of cattle valued at US$472,000 from Maphaneni Ranch in Kezi.

The Gwanda Magistrates’ Court remanded him in custody until August 14, 2025.

According to the charges presented by the National Prosecuting Authority, Schultz allegedly perpetrated the thefts between August 2024 and April 2025.

He is accused of misleading a ranch worker into believing he had authorisation from the complainant, Luka Ignatius Fabris, to sell the cattle to cover employee salaries.

The state alleges Schultz then sold the livestock to an abattoir, set the prices himself, and kept the money for his own use. None of the stolen cattle have been recovered.

Stock theft is a serious crime in Zimbabwe, often resulting in lengthy prison sentences.

This is not the first time Fabris is involved in controversy. In 2024, he was acquitted by the High Court of a fraud conviction.

He and his company, Spartan Security, had been found guilty by a lower court of defrauding business partner Leigh Ann Patricia Rudland of US$1 million.

According to the initial allegations, Fabris convinced Rudland in 2019 to invest ZWL4.8million (then equivalent to US$1 million) in his company’s cattle ranching business, promising her a 2% monthly return.

Rudland claimed that after receiving only US$540,000 in returns, the payments stopped. However, during the trial, the prosecution failed to provide evidence to support this claim.

Fabris’s defense was that the transaction was not an investment but a simple agreement to convert an electronic transfer into cash, with a 1% fee. He argued that the money’s value depreciated due to inflation by the time Rudland collected the full amount in batches.

The High Court judges, Justices Happias Zhou and Benjamin Chikowero, ultimately overturned the initial conviction, ruling that the state had failed to prove the essential elements of the crime.