The South Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa has jailed three Zimbabweans and six other people for a total of 10 939 years in prison for 391 counts of money laundering, fraud and forgery, among other offenses committed in the country.

The other offences are assisting another person to benefit from unlawful activities, acquisition, possession or use of proceeds of unlawful activities, contravening the Birth and Death Registration Act, contravening the Identification Act, the Attorneys Act, and the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

The Zimbabweans are Mavudzi Maxwell Ndlovu (59), Edward Shoniwa (56) and Jeremiah Nyasha Musiwacho Dube (59).

In a statement, the South African Police Service said the National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya welcomed the sentencing of nine of the thirteen accused persons.

"Two of the accused, Bonisiwe Prizzer Ndlovu (52) and Thabile Octavia Nkosi (51), both South African females, met their untimely deaths during the course of the trial whilst two others, Mfanafuthi Daniel Khanyile (47) and Adam Michael Phiri (42), both South African males, turned State witnesses.

"It is reported that from 2009 and 2016, the accused were members of various entities registered in terms of the Close Corporations Act and/or the Companies Act. They also registered their companies for Value Added Tax (VAT) in terms of the South African Revenue Services Act," reads the statement.

"A total of 23 cases were opened at the Johannesburg Central police station against the accused. These cases were referred to the Gauteng-based Serious Corruption Investigation for in-depth probe.

"The accused, while acting in furtherance of a common purpose, submitted fraudulent VAT returns for and on behalf of the said companies claiming undue VAT refund from the South African Revenue Services (SARS).

"In support of their claims, the accused forged and uttered invoices to SARS. The undue VAT refund was then paid by SARS into various bank accounts of the said various entities, and were then transferred into various other accounts which were under the control of the accused," reads the statement.

SAPS said the entities in question were not trading or conducting any business during the period they claimed the refunds and therefore did not incur any input expenses to warrant reimbursement.

SARS was prejudiced of R300 million.