Municipal employee arrested for theft of cable worth R1.2m
The employee was one of three people arrested in connection with a truck carrying electrical cable stolen from the stores.
A City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) worker faces a criminal charge and departmental disciplinary process after his alleged involvement in the theft of copper cables worth R1.2m from the city’s stores in Alberton on February 13.
After the metro’s Anti-Cable Theft Task Team and a private security company intercepted the truck carrying stolen electrical cable when it was about to leave the city’s stores, the team arrested the employee and two suspects not working for the city.
Preliminary investigations suggest the employee, a clerk at the stores, colluded with the two suspects by allegedly issuing fraudulent documents to release the cable from the stores.
The truck does not belong to the city or the metro’s service providers.
The metro will thoroughly investigate the possibility of the employee’s involvement in previous thefts.
Metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the CoE loses more than R90m annually to cable theft. He said the employee’s criminal behaviour worsens the situation because the metro expects its employees to protect municipal infrastructure at all times.
“Cable theft is a major problem for the city, and we spend millions on security companies to patrol and monitor our infrastructure,” said Dlamini.
When asked what measures are in place to mitigate this problem, Dlamini said, “Private security companies, the EMPD, and the latest technology tell us when someone tampers with our cables.”
Community members bear the brunt of these thefts because they leave their areas without power. Residents are urged to assist the metro in protecting the infrastructure by reporting any suspicious activity around the city’s infrastructure to mitigate that situation.
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