The Mpumalanga Division of the High Court sitting in Delmas sent a gang from Lesotho to prison on Friday, July 9 for the murder of three people.
The Court sentenced Lefa Mahashule (31), Thabiso Ramabele (30), Thato Damane (27) and Tankiso Morei (50) to respective life sentences for the murder of Mr Lucky Mahlangu (36), Mr Tsotang Ntjebe (44) and Mr Bulelani Gqoboka (48) in December 2016.
Brig Leonard Hlathi, Mpumalanga police spokesman, said in a press statement on Saturday, July 12 the sentences were imposed after details were heard on how the group of heavily armed men from Lesotho went on a rampage and terrorised the community of eMbalenhle near Secunda.
The quartet robbed their victims of their personal items and also targeted business owners in the area. Some of their victims were killed and others survived.
Mr Mahlangu, an eMbalenhle businessman, was ambushed and killed at his business premises on December 16, 2016.
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Mr Gqoboka, who was a mine worker, was shot execution-style inside a bus on December 20, 2016, while travelling to work during a period where some of his colleagues were on strike.
The gang also shot and killed Mr Ntjebe on December 22, 2016. According to Brig Hlathi, the police assembled a team of experts to conduct an investigation.
“The astute members worked tirelessly in tracing the suspects and they made a breakthrough where the four were sniffed out from their different hiding places between December 2016 and January 2017.
“During the arrests, Damane and Morei were found in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition.
“Police managed to link the four men to the three murders as well as robbery incidents and the accused were therefore charged accordingly,” said Brig Hlathi.
Mahashule was slapped with two life sentences and an additional 104 years to languish in prison. Meanwhile, Ramabele received two life sentences, with an additional 45 years’ imprisonment. Damane and Morei were each sentenced to life imprisonment, with an additional 31 years in jail.
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Ramabele, Damane and Morei were each sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for two counts of attempted murder. The accused were further sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and four years for possession of illegal firearms.
Damane and Morei were also sentenced to five years’ imprisonment each on another count of possession of unlicensed firearms plus one year each for unlawful possession of ammunition.
All four accused were also sentenced to a year in jail each on three counts of unlawful possession of ammunition.
Mahashule was further sentenced to two years behind bars for two counts of pointing with a firearm. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently with the life sentences. Each accused was further found to be unfit to possess a firearm.
Brig Hlathi said the police management in Mpumalanga led by Lieut-Genl Semakaleng Manamela, the provincial police commissioner, welcomed the hefty sentences.
Lieut-Gen Manamela lauded the exceptional work done by the investigation team, the prosecution and the judiciary.
“We are proud of the commitment and hard work shown by those who were involved in ensuring that justice is served for the victims.
“We hope that the sentence will serve as deterrence to other would-be criminals. Harsher sentences like these ones are befitting so that others may refrain from unbecoming behaviour,” said Lieut-Gen Manamela.