Justice has eventually caught up with vehicle smuggling kingpin Vusi Amos Zulu Malwane who escaped from custody almost ten years ago, only to be rearrested and swiftly sentenced to 55 years’ imprisonment last week.
SAPS National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola welcomed Malwane’s conviction and sentencing, which was handed down in the Ingwavuma Regional Court on Thursday. Malwane, 44, a cross-border vehicle smuggling ringleader who was terrorising communities in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, escaped from custody in 2014.
SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the court had handed Malwane a collective 55 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping (six years), robbery with aggravating circumstances (hijacking, 30 years), and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition (15 years). He was also sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for escaping from lawful custody.
“For more than a decade, Malwane led a syndicate that was behind a spate of motor vehicle hijacking incidents in Emanguzi and surrounding areas. He would thereafter smuggle the vehicles into neighbouring Mozambique through various borders in the province,” Mathe said.
“He escaped from lawful custody in 2014 and was rearrested by the Emanguzi cross-border operation task team deployed by the National Commissioner to clamp down on cross-border crimes, including vehicle theft, on 9 May 2023,” she said.
Masemola added that the task team is continuing to register “commendable progress” in that it has arrested 75 suspects since its deployment four months ago.
“Following our interventions and deployments to the area, 37 vehicles have since been recovered and 27 firearms recovered with 321 rounds of ammunition seized,” Masemola said.
