A 45-YEAR-OLD Zimbabwean man has been jailed for an effective five years in South Africa for smuggling a consignment of cigarettes worth over R300 000 into the neighbouring country.
Oliver Mupanga was convicted of possession of illicit cigarettes and contravening a section of the Immigration Act (illegally crossing the border) by a Senwabarwana regional magistrate.
Limpopo’s spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Ms Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi yesterday confirmed Mupanga’s conviction and sentence.
She said the court sentenced Mupanga to an effective five- year prison term without an option of fine. In addition to the sentence for cigarette smuggling, he was slapped with another three months in jail for entering South Africa without a passport.
The sentences will run concurrently and the vehicle a Toyota Corolla with Registration number CMT 730 L was forfeited to the State.
“The accused person was found in possession of over a thousand cartons of Remington Gold Cigarettes valued at over R300 000,” she said.
“On August 15 last year at around 1AM on the R523 road leading to Louis Trichardt, our officers from the Polokwane Highway Patrol Unit spotted a suspicious Toyota Corolla with registration number CMT 730 L, driving at high speed.
They tried to stop it while flashing blue lights but the driver didn’t stop.”
Ms Malabi-Dzhangi said police gave chase and intercepted Mupanga after his car hit a certain obstacle resulting in it developing a mechanical fault.
She said two people disembarked from the car and fled in different directions.
“Police managed to apprehend Mupanga who is handicapped. Upon searching the car, police found 1 104 cartons of Remington Gold Cigarettes inside the car,” said Ms Malabi-Dzhangi.
“According to an affidavit from the Department of Home Affairs, the accused is an illegal immigrant.”
Ms Malabi-Dzhangi said, in mitigation, through his lawyer, Mupanga, who is physically handicapped and uses crutches, pleaded for leniency and asked the court to fine him.
However, his pleas fell on deaf ears after the State, which was represented by Advocate Phumudzo Mudau called for a stiff custodial sentence.
“It is very difficult to apprehend offenders who commit offences of this nature. The State argued that the smuggling charge involved a syndicate and the offence also impacted negatively on the country’s economy,’’ said Adv Mudau.
The smuggling of cigarettes from Zimbabwe into South Africa through illegal crossing points along the Limpopo River is rampant.
Late last year, another 33-year-old Zimbabwean was jailed for five years by a South African magistrate court after he was arrested while diverting a load of tobacco and a truck worth R3,5 million that was in transit through the neighbouring country.
Official statistics indicate that 30 percent of cigarettes in South Africa are from Zimbabwe and these include Pacific, Remington gold, Mega, Dullahs, Branson and Servilles.
The demand for Zimbabwe’s tobacco and related products by other countries has seen the establishment of well-orchestrated syndicates who facilitate the illegal trade and smuggling of the gold leaf into different countries. – The Chronicle
