The Johannesburg high court has sentenced a gang who "terrorised Mpumalanga and Gauteng" to life imprisonment for attempted murder‚ 11 bank robberies‚ racketeering and 20 other charges.

"The eight suspects were part of a dangerous gun-toting syndicate that terrorised Mpumalanga and Gauteng in 2013 and 2014‚" Hawks spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

One of the suspects‚ Jackson Msiza‚ 54‚ pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison when the trial started in June 2016. The case was dropped against three others due to insufficient evidence. Eight suspects were sentenced to 914 years in prison altogether on Thursday. They are:

Sikhumbuzo Sibanda‚ 45 Strike Ndebele‚ 48 Themba Ndlovu‚ 45 Xolani Nxumalo‚ 40 Bafana Ntuli‚ 45 Nkosana Nkomo‚ 28 Vusi Lucky Dube‚ 42 and Mduduzi Makhubu‚ 38. "The first six are Zimbabweans while the last two are South Africans‚ making the organised criminal group a multinational one‚" Mulaudzi said.

"Remarkably‚ the judge slapped them with further life sentences each on two counts of a pattern of racketeering activities."