The killers of South African reggae superstar, Lucky Dube, were jailed for life on Thursday.
In an act which sent shockwaves through music-lovers across Africa, Dube was shot dead in an attempted hijacking in the southern suburbs of Johannesburg in October 2007. His murder underlined South Africa's reputation in the continent as a hot-bed of violent crime.
On Tuesday, Judge Seun Moshidi of the South Gauteng High Court, convicted Sifiso Mhlanga, 34 - who fired the shots - Julius Ngxowa, 32, and Mbuti Mabe, 31, on charges of murder, attempted robbery and other crimes. Earlier in the day, before the court convened, Mhlanga and Mabe attacked a policeman as they arrived at court and tried to escape.
Life imprisonment is the maximum sentence that can be imposed in South Africa. The new constitution negotiated after liberation in 1994 outlawed the death penalty, which until then had mostly been imposed on black South Africans without enough money to pay for their own defence.
The judge on Thursday also handed down 15-year jail sentences on the three for the hijack attempt, and 18-year sentences for robbing another person of his car two days later. Mabe was sentenced to 18 years for the robbery of the getaway car.
