July looters who plundered meat at cold storage get sentences shaved by five years

Three “July looters” have had their 10-year sentences shaved by half and will now serve five years behind bars for stealing meat worth R80,000.

This is the outcome of an appeal they launched against the sentences imposed in the Durban regional court in August 2023, which came before Pietermaritzburg high court acting judges Elad Mizrachi and Warren Shapiro earlier this year.

In their ruling, which was handed down this week, the judges said the magistrate had weighted the issue of deterrence too heavily when handing down the sentences.

Mduduzi Buthelezi, 54, Mandla Ngcobo, 61, and John Thobela, 48, were three of five people arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced in August 2023 in connection with the crime, committed on July 14 2021.

This was in the midst of the unrest and looting which hit KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng following the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court.

The unrest resulted in the deaths of 354 people and cost an estimated R75bn in damages to infrastructure and businesses.

At the time National Prosecuting Authority KZN regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said during this period, a business in Chesterville, Ayoba Cold Storage, was looted and partly burnt by members of the public.

Ramkisson-Kara said the owner of the business, MZ Luthuli, imported meat from Brazil that he sold to various franchises and stores.

In considering the appeal against sentence, the judges said it was important to consider “the unique circumstances” and context of the crime “which ravaged the province both economically and with tragic loss of life”.

The five men were arrested after being stopped while travelling through Chesterville. They were directed to the local police station where Luthuli identified boxes, and the meat in them, in their car as belonging to him.

“The complainant indicated that when he went to his storage facility while the looting was taking place, there were about 5,000 people in the yard. The facility and trucks and vehicles were destroyed. The total loss suffered was estimated to be about R70m,” the judges said.

The complainant had given painful testimony about the events of that day, how he had tried to extinguish fires using only a hosepipe because fire services were “nowhere to be found” in the chaos of the unrest and looting.

He had testified that while insurance had paid a portion of his losses, he had to downgrade his life, leave his home and his children could not continue their schooling.

In their appeal, the three men submitted that the sentences of 10 years were too high, considering they were first offenders and had acted impulsively.

They also pointed to the fact that the regional court had imposed sentences of only five years on the other two co-accused — Sphelele Mazibuko, 22, and Sabelo Shandu, 23 — apparently because they were younger.

They said the court had also failed to take into account that the value of the stolen meat had “drastically reduced” because it was no longer fit for human consumption when it was recovered.

Their lawyer argued that they should be sentenced to serve only one year in jail.

But given the peculiar circumstances in the present case, being the commission of the offence in the fervour of the July 2021 unrest, when considered alongside the fact that the appellants were all first-time offenders at a late stage in their lives, leads to the conclusion that the deterrence factor was weighted too heavily.

Advocate Krishan Shah, for the state, submitted that the sentences did appear to be “exemplary”, motivated by the scale and impact of the looting.

He said further that the three had shown no remorse and their conduct was “clearly orchestrated”.

However, during the appeal proceedings, he accepted that the sentences could be reduced to five years, to bring them in line with the sentences of the other two accused.

The judges, in upholding the appeal and halving the sentences, said only a sentence of direct imprisonment was appropriate.

“But given the peculiar circumstances in the present case, being the commission of the offence in the fervour of the July 2021 unrest, when considered alongside the fact that the appellants were all first-time offenders at a late stage in their lives, leads to the conclusion that the deterrence factor was weighted too heavily.

“This is not to suggest that deterrence should not have been an important consideration.”

They said the 10-year sentences induced a “sense of shock” and accordingly constituted a material misdirection by the trial court.

Sentences of five years were an “adequate balance” considering the crime, the interests of society and the interests of the accused.