The two foreign nationals who were nabbed at last week for the possession of suspected stolen motor vehicles appeared briefly in the Nebo Magistrate’s Court in Limpopo on Tuesday.
Zimbabwean national Voughan Tinashe Muhezua, 31, and Malawian national Ayidi Yufuf Tabu, 41, were formally charged.
The duo were arrested on Saturday, September 16, as officers from the Masemola policing precinct under the Sekhukhune District were conducting a high-density operation along with various police sectors.
"During the operation, police spotted two Toyota Fortuner motor vehicles that were travelling together in a convoy on a public road, and they started to follow them.
“The drivers of the two motor vehicles noticed that the police were following them and attempted to speed off in order to evade arrest but were cornered, stopped, and searched.
“The members of the Vehicle Identification and Safeguarding Unit (VIS) were summoned to the scene for further investigations about the motor vehicles,” Limpopo South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said.
He said police then discovered that the two Toyota Fortuners were reportedly stolen this year in Gauteng, in Roodepoort and Honeydew, respectively.
Police said the vehicles were valued at more than R1 million.
The provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said the matter was postponed as Muhezua still needs to bring a legal representative before the court to defend him.
The court is also awaiting a Shona interpreter for Tabu.
The men have been remanded in custody.