On 20 April 2026, the Vrede Regional Court sentenced Zimbabwean national Felix Magatu, 44, to seven years imprisonment for tampering with or damaging essential infrastructure and seven years imprisonment for theft of crude oil. The court also declared Magatu unfit to possess a firearm.
The charges stem from an incident on 25 September 2023, when security personnel were alerted to a theft of crude oil at a farm near Memel. Following the mobilization of local police, two suspects were pursued and arrested, and two vehicles were recovered. Authorities determined that the suspects had damaged a Transnet pipeline to extract crude oil valued at over R600,000.
Magatu’s co-accused, Shepard Vareni, is currently serving a prison term after being sentenced by the same court in November 2025.
