Blow to syndicate: Stiff jail sentences served to thieves of state entities’ cables
|Published
MANG TOE: Wilson Khoza, Amos Ngubeni, Malome Matsetela and Samuel Ngwenya. Pictures supplied
A cable theft syndicate found guilty of stealing copper cables from state entities across the Western Cape and then selling it in Gauteng have been handed stiff sentences by the Western Cape High Court.
Hawks spokesperson, Zinzi Hani, says the syndicate was busted by the Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit in 2017, after a five-year stealing spree.
Scrapyard owner Malome Alfred Matsetela along with Amos Ngubeni, Samuel Ngwenya, Linda James Malope and Wilson Khoza were busted for stealing copper cables belonging to Eskom, Telkom and Transnet.
“It is reported that the scrap metal owner, who was operating from Malvern Scrap Metal, colluded with four other accused by cutting and stealing copper cables all over the country and thereafter transporting the stolen copper cables to Malvern Scrap Metals where they were sold,” says Hani.
“The owner would then pay the other four accused with cash or cheques from his company account.”
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila says the group received various sentences but as the ringleader, Matsetela received 77 years.
“The syndicate’s spree on infrastructure plundering came to a halt in the early hours of 10 November 2012 when a silent alarm was triggered, after Ngobeni and Ngwenya cut the Telkom overhead cables between Oudtshoorn and Prince Albert.
“Police arrested them and overheard them saying they were supposed to be picked up with the stolen overhead Telkom cables by a third suspect.
“Police noticed a vehicle driving in the direction where the suspects were arrested and gave chase.
“The driver of the vehicle abandoned the vehicle and ran away.
“The investigation was then taken over by the Hawks George Unit due to the increase in Telkom overhead cables theft in the Southern Cape at the time.”
He says the syndicate used the vehicles to steal Telkom, Eskom and Transnet overhead cables in the Western Cape and Northern Cape and then transport them to Malvern, Johannesburg, where they were offloaded at Malvern Scrap Metal owned by Matsetela.
Senior State Advocate John Ryneveld told the court that Matsetela received more than R15 million between November 2012 to September 2014.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Adv. Nicolette Bell welcomed the sentence and said: “I want to commend the investigating and prosecuting teams for the work they have done to ensure that these accused are arrested and successfully prosecuted for plundering state infrastructure. Copper theft has an adverse effect on service delivery and negatively impacts on the economy.”