africanpress.in

JOHANNESBURG, Thursday

Three men have been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering South African reggae star Lucky Dube in 2007, SAPA news agency reported today.

Dube, 43, was killed in a botched carjacking in October 2007. Dube recorded more than 20 albums and had shared a stage with Sinead O’Connor, Peter Gabriel and Sting.

The High Court in Johannesburg also sentenced Sifiso Mhlanga, Julius Gxowa, and Mbuti Mabe to 15 years each for their attempted robbery of Dube’s car, SAPA said. They were found guilty earlier this week.

The singer won over 20 awards locally and internationally. His first album, released in 1984 with the title; Rastas Never Die, was banned by South Africa’s apartheid government.

South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, with frequent murders, rapes and carjackings.

Lucky Dube was born in Ermelo, formerly of the Eastern Transvaal, now of Mpumalanga, on August 3, 1964.

His parents separated before his birth and he was raised by his mother, Sarah, who named him because she considered his birth fortunate after a number of failed pregnancies.

Along with his two siblings, Thandi and Patrick, Dube spent much of his childhood with his grandmother, while his mother relocated to work.

In a 1999 interview he described his grandmother as “his greatest love” who “multiplied many things to bring up this responsible individual that I am today.”

Reporting by Reuters and Wikipedia

source,nation.ke

Lucky Dube killers jailed for life - Dube, 43, was killed in a botched carjacking in October 2007