Mavis Xaba and Joseph Zondo, brother and sister, ran a wholesale dagga business from homes and businesses in Standerton that served as depots for dagga sourced in the Bergville area.[1] They were caught in a well-planned entrapment in which Inspector Wilhelm Arendt, introduced by a former police courier released from gaol for a day, transported consignments at Xaba’s request.[1] Xaba pleaded guilty to five charges of dealing and Zondo to three, while two other accused also pleaded guilty.[1]
Arendt delivered eighteen bags to Xaba’s home across consignments weighing 149.92 kg, 206.58 kg and 139.64 kg, with the court estimating about 595 kg transported in total.[1] Zondo received two ten-bag consignments weighing 149.92 kg and 139.64 kg, which Xaba admitted arranging.[1] Police also found about 500 kg in their possession, split as 265.52 kg accepted by Xaba and 259.152 kg by Zondo, including bags stolen from the Standerton police exhibit store.[1] The regional magistrate at Middelburg sentenced Xaba to twenty years and Zondo to eighteen years.[1]
Appeal
The Pretoria High Court dismissed their appeals, and after a long delay caused by the disappearance and reconstruction of the record the Supreme Court of Appeal heard the case on 3 March 2005.[1] The appeal court held the twenty- and eighteen-year terms were too severe despite the large quantities and the corruption of local police used in the trade, setting fourteen years as the recent high-water mark for dagga dealing.[1] It replaced Xaba’s sentence with fourteen years’ imprisonment and Zondo’s with twelve years, and asked that the Director of Public Prosecutions consider a possible appeal for the third accused if he was still incarcerated.[1]
