Premier urges courts to do away with lenient sentences as he bids farewell to Big Moss

Mayor Moses Maluleke laid to rest

The Village Voice

Limpopo premier Chupu Mathabatha has slammed the lenient sentences dished out by the courts on people convicted of murder and called on the courts to be harsher.

Mathabatha was speaking at Saselamani Stadium during the funeral service of slain mayor Moses Maluleke who was shot dead at his home at Xikundu on July 21.

Said Mathabatha: “We have been calling for harsher sentences for a long time and we do not get the audience we want.”

He said people get long sentences for killing animals and serve a mere 15 years for killing human beings. He also slammed the parole system saying most of the murders are committed by people on parole. He said there should be a law governing the minimum sentence.

Thousands of people crammed the stadium to bid farewel to the popular leader who was also the deputy secretary of the ANC in the Vhembe region. Senior leaders such as Deputy ministers Cassel Mathale and David Masondo, Thoho Didiza, ANC Limpopo deputy chair Florence Radzilani, deputy secretary Basikopo Makamu and secretary Reuben Madadzhe were amongst the mourners.