Farai Mlambo (24), Norbet Mupandawana (28) and Kenneth Mupandawana (31) were convicted by the Stilfontein Regional court for possession of explosives on Monday, 23 August 2021.

The three accused were arrested in Stilfontein on 17 September 2020 during a disruptive operation by the Illicit Mining Task team, after they were found in possession of explosives.

They made a series of court appearances until they were ultimately sentenced to eight (8) years imprisonment of which four (4) years were suspended for five (5) years. They will therefore each serve an effective four (4) years imprisonment.

Meanwhile on a separate incident, Omphile Ricardo Maswabi (22) who is originally from Botswana made a brief appearance before the Mmabatho Regional court on Tuesday following his arrest at a Johannesburg prison. The accused who had been sought for some time by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation is allegedly linked to cases of cash in transit robbery and police murders that took place in 2020.

He was remanded in custody and the matter was postponed to 30 August 2021 for further investigation.

Source: South African Police Service