Emanguzi cross-border vehicle smuggler sentenced to seven years

By Charmaine Ndlela

The South African Police Service (SAPS) National Task Team (NTT), deployed in Emanguzi in the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal to curb and combat cross-border crime, has secured another conviction of a vehicle smuggler.

The area is on the border of Mozambique. 

Since April 2025, the task team has apprehended 96 suspects for various offences, confiscated 16 illegal firearms, including imitation weapons, and recovered 67 stolen vehicles, as well as one truck.

The Mtubatuba Regional Court this week sentenced 45-year-old Mpumelelo Cloud Goba after he pleaded guilty to the theft of a Toyota Fortuner valued at more than R700,000. The vehicle was stolen from a parking lot in Durban Central in August 2024. 

Goba was handed an effective seven-year prison sentence, with half of the term suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of a similar offence during that period. 

The vehicle, which had