Polokwane - Limpopo police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Jim Ledwaba has welcomed the heavy sentences handed down in separate cases to two men this week for raping several minor girls, the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the province said.

Bafana Macdonald Mputla, 27, was convicted and sentenced in the Mogalakwena Regional Court outside Mokopane on Thursday to four life sentences for raping three young girls, aged between 11 and 16, and an 18-year-old woman, the SAPS said in a statement.

"[Mputla's] reign of terror began in 2016 when he tormented young girls by dragging them into the bush while passing between Extension 19 and Sekgakgapeng village and afterwards repeatedly raped them."

His crime spree came to an end in 2018 after he raped an 11-year-old girl. He was traced by members of the family violence, child protection, and sexual offenses (FCS) unit and arrested.

On Friday, a 50-year-old-man was sentenced in the Lephalale Regional Court to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping his then 15-year-old stepdaughter at their home in Abbortspoort, Dubs village in the Villa Nora policing precinct.