Three month imprisonment
for breach of SA’s Immigration Act
Cape
Times – 05 June 2022
Cape Town
- Seventeen Lesotho nationals have been sentenced to three months imprisonment
in the Molteno Magistrate’s Court in the Eastern Cape after facing charges
relating to contraventions of the Immigration Act.
The
nationals, aged between 21 and 48 years, were sentenced on Friday, said Hawks
spokesperson Yolisa Mgolodela.
“In April
2021, a suspicious looking Quantum vehicle was spotted and chased by police.
Inside the Quantum were Lesotho foreign nationals who could not explain the
purpose of the journey. Permits were requested to no avail. All of them were
apprehended. Investigations led the police to a house in Sterkstroom where more
of the accused were hosted to make up the 17.
“The case
dragged due to their lack of co-operation. At times they would even refuse to
comply with their legal representative’s instruction and repeatedly changed
attorneys. After a series of court appearances all pleaded guilty on May 19,
2022,” said Mgolodela.
Mgolodela
said they would be imprisoned for three months.
“On
imposing judgment the presiding officer reiterated the fact that unregistered
foreign nationals contribute to the high rate of crime which mostly involves
the destruction of essential infrastructure where billions of rand are spent to
repair the gross vandalism of such.
“The
provincial head Major-General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya commended the Queenstown
Serious Organised Crime Unit of the Hawks for the job well done though a
harsher sentence would have been preferred to deter such criminal conducts,”
said Mgolodela.
www.samigration.com