News24.com | Cable thief gets 15-year sentence after shooting security guard five times

Mpho Makatise has been jailed for cable theft.

• A North West copper thief has been handed an effective 15-year prison sentence.
• Mpho Makatise was part of a group of seven, who shot a security guard five times.
• The other six fled and are still at large.

The Bafokeng Magistrate's Court has sentenced 39-year-old North West man, Mpho Makatise, to an effective 15 years in prison after he and six others stole copper cables at a platinum mine two years ago and shot a security guard who caught them.

The security guard was shot five times during the May 2021 incident but lived to tell the tale, according to North West National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Henry Mamothame.

"Reports reveal that he (the security guard) spent six months in hospital and he has not fully recovered as he continues to get treatment for the gun wounds he sustained," he added.

He said Makatise's six accomplices fled from the scene and were still at large.

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After Makatise was convicted, prosecutor Zola Mpayipheli argued in aggravation of his sentence that he lacked remorse and that copper cable theft was damaging to the economy.

The court sentenced Makatise on Tuesday to 10 years in prison for attempted murder, 10 years for theft and five years for attempting to evade justice.

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The court ordered that the two 10-year sentences be served concurrently with the five-year sentence.

"The Director of Public Prosecutions in the North West, Dr Rachel Makhari-Sekhaolelo, together with the provincial [police] commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, lauded all roleplayers in ensuring that the perpetrator is brought to book," Mamothame said.

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