The Pretoria Magistrates’ Court sentenced Mlotha Nelson Usale (59) to 10 years direct imprisonment for tampering with essential infrastructure and eight years each for three counts of fraud worth R150 000.
Usale, who is also a pastor of God’s Chapel Church, ran a syndicate where he would steal batteries from various Vodacom and MTN network towers throughout the country.
He, and his two accomplices, took the police to a storage unit in Midrand where they kept the stolen batteries. Authorities found 53 batteries in the unit.
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NPA regional spokesperson Gauteng division: Pretoria Lumka Mahanjana said it is alleged that Usale would steal the batteries from various network towers, then respray the casings of the battery in an attempt to disguise their true origins to make it look like they were commercial solar batteries.
Mahanjana said thereafter he would sell the batteries to unsuspecting consumers by placing adverts on social media platforms under a business called Solar Mart and Sun Shop.
“When an unsuspecting customer purchases a battery, the company would use the services of e-hailing to deliver the battery. This syndicate was discovered after a complainant bought a battery and it did not work. The complainant then showed the battery to his friend who told him that the battery was a network battery. The complainant then reported the matter to the police, who in return set a trap which resulted in the arrest of the two on May 2, 2022. They have since been convicted and sentenced to eight years each on July 11 last year,” said Mahanjana.
She said thereafter the two took police to the places where they sold the batteries. After the arrest of the two, a warrant of arrest was issued for Usale, however, he skipped the country and returned to Malawi.
Mahanjana said Usale was eventually arrested on January 25 at the Beitbridge Border attempting to skip the country again. The court ordered the sentences should run concurrently. Usale was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
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“In court, he pleaded guilty to the charges and offered to pay a fine of R200 000 for the offences. However, the prosecutor, Advocate Tholoana Sekhonyana, refused the offer and argued that the offences committed warranted a sentence of direct imprisonment. The crimes committed caused network interruptions and cost the network service providers, MTN and Vodacom, a lot of money to replace the stolen batteries,” added Mahanjana.
Furthermore, Sekhonyana argued that the people who bought the batteries, thinking they were legitimate, lost a lot of money because the stolen batteries had since been confiscated.
Therefore, the only appropriate sentence was that of direct imprisonment. When handing down the sentence, Magistrate Chulu Boitumelo agreed with the state that the money used to replace the batteries and fix the damage was substantial and the complainants lost a lot of money.
Furthermore, the magistrate said Usale lacked consideration for the victims, owing to the fact that he asked to pay a fine and not reimburse the victims. Therefore, the magistrate found that a fine was not an appropriate sentence as it would send a wrong message to society.
The director of public prosecutions, Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi, welcomed the sentence and applauded the great work of the investigating officers, Sergeant Thabo Lukhele and Sergeant Mokibelo Supe of the Gauteng Provincial Organised Crime Unit, which led to this conviction and sentencing.
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