Sunflower seed theft lands man behind bars for eight years

The sentence was wholly suspended for five years on condition Rathebe undergoes correctional supervision for a period of three years.

An investigation by the complainant, a director of CEOCO Oils, which is situated in Commissioner Street, uncovered severe losses to the business over several months, especially pertaining to the conversion of raw product (sunflower seed) into the final product (sunflower oil).

The company discovered the amount of seeds delivered to them and the oil extracted from these did not match.

Further investigation was done at the weighbridge, situated at Unilever, in Commissioner Street, and it was found that documentation for a truck which weighed in at around 2pm on July 25, last year, and out again at around 9pm, was handwritten and not captured on the computer system.

This was reported to the police and the investigating officer requested a travel report for the truck in question.

This report revealed the truck was in fact on the road in the Free State at around 2pm on July 25, last year, and at around 9pm it was stationary on the Golden Highway, in the Johannesburg area.

Their investigation then took them to Henneman where the silo manager at Geneva Silo told police the truck in question had uplifted 33 tons of sunflower seed from the silo on July 25, and that the seed was destined for CEOCO Oils, in Boksburg.

The truck, the manager said, weighed in on 25 July at around 10am and weighed out again at around 12pm.

Rathebe admitted that after uplifting the sunflower seed he offloaded it in the Johannesburg area, fully aware the documentation stated it was destined for the Boksburg company.

Another driver from the Free State, Jim Gadebe (40), was also recently sentenced in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court, to seven years in prison or a R60 000 fine for theft of sunflower seeds from the same Boksburg company, to the value of R250 000.

Magistrate Abel Shilubana presided and Maria Fyfe represented the state.