Two men sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for dealing in cannabis

KEETMANSHOOP, 22 JUN – Two men were sentenced to five years in prison each on a charge of dealing in drugs when they made their third appearance in the Karasburg Regional Court on Wednesday.
John Mbongiseni, a South African national, and Giovanne Party Papa, 40, from Swaziland appeared before Magistrate Sunsley Sizengwe.
During their second appearance in the Keetmanshoop Regional Court on 11 June 2018, Prosecutor Basson Lilungwe proposed that the vehicle used by the accused to transport cannabis be forfeited to the State.
The owner of the car, Siyabonga Hlongwa, on Wednesday told the court he gave the car to Papa to go to Swaziland and was not aware that his car was going to be used to transport cannabis to Namibia.
Papa informed the magistrate that he does not have a driver’s licence and that is why the car was driven by Mbongiseni.
Sizengwe then sentenced the two to five years each and ordered that the vehicle be returned to the lawful owner.
The two conducted their own defence.
Mbongiseni was arrested on 05 May this year in Ariamsvlei with 60 parcels of cannabis weighing about 17 kilogrammes and valued at about N.dollars 171 050. Papa was arrested the following day.
The two will serve their sentence at the correctional facility in Keetmanshoop.
(NAMPA)