{"id":59213,"date":"2019-03-28T16:22:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T14:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/illegal-miners-appeal-against-sentence-dismissed-20190328-3\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T17:45:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T15:45:02","slug":"illegal-miners-appeal-against-sentence-dismissed-20190328-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/illegal-miners-appeal-against-sentence-dismissed-20190328-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal miners\u2019 appeal against sentence dismissed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"preview_container\">\n<div class=\"contentPreview\">\n<div class=\"doc\" xml_lang=\"af\">\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"text\" id=\"U306514578678HC\">\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">The 22 illegal miners who were found guilty of stealing more than R120 million worth of gold dust have failed in their appeal in the Bloemfontein Supreme Court against their accumulative sentence of 1\u2009905 years in jail.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">\u201cThese illegal miners definitely did not go deep underground in the No 5 shaft of the Masimong Mine in the Goldfields to have a picnic,\u201d said Judge Mojalefa Rampai. He also dismissed their appeal against their conviction on a total of 577 charges.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">These charges varied from racketeering and violations of the Precious Metals Act and Immigrations Act, to theft, money laundering and organised crime. <p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Not everyone was charged with and convicted on the same crimes. <p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Most of the illegal miners are from Mozambique and Zimbabwe.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Their leader, Lovemore Chaba, and one of his deputies, Simon Mashava Cremora, were each effectively sentenced to 25 years in prison. The rest of the effective judgments vary from 20 to 22 years.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Chaba\u2019s wife, Bongeka Makaula, was effectively sentenced to 20 years in jail. <p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">The state also obtained a seizure order of R433\u2009700 on this couple\u2019s property.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Rampai said he could not fault the verdict of Judge Soma Naidoo, who convicted the miners after a 93-day court trial in Virginia in February 2017.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">On the various sentences meted against the offenders, he conceded that some of the sentences were heavy, but he is convinced that it is not worryingly inappropriate when looking at the extent of the organised crime they have committed.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">From the testimony heard in aggravation of the sentences, it is evident that illegal mining has a major effect on the Goldfield\u2019s economy. <p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">It is also clear that private and public law enforcement officers are running a losing battle against illegal miners, Rampai said. <p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">The trial resulted from security actions at the Masimong Mine in 2014. It took two months to capture all 22 illegal miners.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Adv. Johan de Nysschen acted on behalf of the State, and Adv. Pieter Nel represented the appellants. <p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" id=\"U30651457867ltH\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 22 illegal miners who were found guilty of stealing more than R120 million worth of gold dust have failed in their appeal in the Bloemfontein Supreme Court against their accumulative sentence of 1?905 years in jail.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese illegal miners definitely did not go deep underground in the No 5 shaft of the Masimong Mine in the Goldfields to have a picnic,\u201d said Judge Mojalefa Rampai. He also dismissed their appeal against their conviction on a total of 577 charges.<\/p>\n<p>These charges varied from racketeering and violations of the Precious Metals Act and Immigrations Act, to theft, money laundering and organised crime. <\/p>\n<p>Not everyone was charged with and convicted on the same crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":59215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozadistrictmailhelderberg":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaeikestadnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozahermanustimes":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeoplespost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweslander":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"2218df53-d9fa-4466-a994-59f667fa5e98","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_p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This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Illegal miners\u2019 appeal against sentence dismissed | Vista<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/illegal-miners-appeal-against-sentence-dismissed-20190328-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illegal miners\u2019 appeal against sentence dismissed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 22 illegal miners who were found guilty of stealing more than R120 million worth of gold dust have failed in their appeal in the Bloemfontein Supreme Court against their accumulative sentence of 1?905 years in jail. \u201cThese illegal miners definitely did not go 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He also dismissed their appeal against their conviction on a total of 577 charges. These charges varied from racketeering and violations of the Precious Metals Act and Immigrations Act, to theft, money laundering and organised crime.  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He also dismissed their appeal against their conviction on a total of 577 charges. These charges varied from racketeering and violations of the Precious Metals Act and Immigrations Act, to theft, money laundering and organised crime.  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