The three accused of cable theft, including CoE’s employee, recently appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
The three were apprehended in Alberton while driving a truck with stolen electrical cable valued at about R1.2m on February 13.
The city’s Anti-Cable Theft Task Team and a private security company intercepted the truck just before it left with the cable from the city’s stores in Alberton.
Upon the arrests, the CoE spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, confirmed that one of the three is a staff member employed as a clerk at Alberton stores.
According to Dlamini, initial enquiries indicate that the worker produced fraudulent paperwork to get the cable released from the stores.
“This worsens the situation because we expect our employees always to protect municipal infrastructure. Cable theft is a major problem for the city, and we spend millions on security companies to patrol and monitor our infrastructure. A lot of money also goes towards replacing stolen cables,” Dlamini said.
Dlamini reaffirmed that cable theft costs the city more than R90m annually.
The court denied the trio bail on their first appearance. They are being held at Boksburg Prison.
On the day of the court proceedings, the magistrate struck the matter of the court roll until further notice.
His reason was that further investigations were needed.
