Ace Magashule’s former driver gets 15 years in jail for stealing R8m painting 10 March 2021 - 11:28 Ricardo Mettler, once driver and bodyguard for former Free State premier Ace Magashule, was convicted of stealing this R8m Pierneef painting. Image: @PLMyburgh via Twitter A man employed as Ace Magashule’s bodyguard when he was premier of the Free State has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for stealing a Pierneef painting worth R8m. Ricardo Mettler, 43, was sentenced in the Bloemfontein high court on Wednesday. He was found guilty of theft, money laundering and fraud in December last year. Mettler was also found guilty of making a false statement to the police in which he said Magashule gave him the painting as a present.