The Musina Regional Court handed down a significant ruling on Monday, April 22nd, sentencing two officials from the Beitbridge border post to fifteen years of direct imprisonment for charges including fraud, forgery, and corruption.
The two people found guilty are Tsumbedzo Priscilla Nemangani Mashito (47), a former SARS customs external verification officer stationed at the Musina Beitbridge Border Post, and Nthapeleng Adler Munyai (47), a former manager of Pamdozi Cargo International CC Clearing Agent. The trial’s evidence described what happened on March 14, 2016.
Using fictitious consignment clearance certificates, the defendants let a truck carrying 614 boxes of semi-manufactured tobacco, valued at more than R6 million, to enter the nation from Zimbabwe. They did not follow protocol; instead, they made it easier for the vehicle to pass through customs. Beitbridge Border Post Officials
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A Road Traffic Management Cooperation (RTMC) officer later stopped the truck at the Musina Weighbridge after noticing discrepancies between the licence discs and registration plates. After alerting a senior colleague to the suspicious activity, police and traffic officials escorted the truck back to the customs ramp.
A fifteen-year direct imprisonment sentence for both defendants was imposed by the presiding judge, who stressed that the aggravating factors outweighed any mitigating circumstances. It was revealed during the trial that Munyai attempted to bribe traffic officials at the weighbridge with R50,000 to avoid redirecting the truck for inspection.
Additionally, he offered R200,000 to a customs official to waive any inspection upon the truck’s return to Beitbridge. Mashito, who had just returned from leave and altered her duty shift, was a key player in processing the truck and its cargo outside of standard customs procedures, misrepresenting her employer, SARS.
