The two Zimbabweans, Alfred Thongameli and Clement Mcube, were sentenced to 15 years each for robbing an SABC news crew outside Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, the National Prosecuting Authority said.
The two men had their sentences handed down in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Tuesday, said NPA spokesperson Phindi Louw.
In March 2015, video footage showing the two men accosting SABC contributing editor Vuyo Mvoko as he waited to deliver his report in front of the camera went viral on YouTube.
As Mvoko was reporting on the Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s arrival in South Africa to undergo possible surgery, about four armed men demanded that the SABC crew hand over their cellphones, laptops and broadcasting equipment.
SABC TV News reporter Chriselda Lewis and Foreign Editor Sophie Mokoena were also present at the scene and they handed over their cellphones to the armed men.
