FREE STATE – The Vrede Regional Court has sentenced Zimbabwean, Shepard Vareni (38) to seven years direct imprisonment for damage to essential infrastructure, seven years direct imprisonment for theft of crude oil, and a fine of R5 000.00, or three-months imprisonment for contravention of the Immigration Act. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The sentencing emanates from an incident on 25 September 2023, when security personnel received an alert about theft of crude oil at a farm near Memel. Assisted by the local police, the security officers chased and arrested two suspects and recovered two vehicles. It was found that the suspects had tempered a Transnet pipeline and stole crude oil. Vareni was remanded in custody until his sentencing on 17 November 2025. The trial against his co-accused and countryman, Felix Magatu (43), is set for 19 and 20 January 2026, in the Vrede Regional Court.
Free State head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Major General Mokgadi Bokaba has welcomed the sentence and commended the investigating officer’s good work.
