Millions of litres of fuel stolen from Transnet – report

The small Free State town of Vrede has become the nexus for sophisticated criminal networks stealing millions of rands worth of fuel from buried pipelines owned by Transnet.

According to a report by amaBhunghane, the small town has also become a target for railway track theft. As fuel prices soar, the demand for illegal petrol and diesel has also increased.

While fuel theft is seriously underrated, it’s operated by sophisticated armed syndicates, suspected of having its tentacles deep within the state security apparatus.

The syndicate is also believed to have ties in illegal mining and cable theft.

In April last year, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan told Parliament Transnet had lost 8.5 million litres of fuel valued at R102 million in the previous 2019-2020 financial year.

In the past two weeks alone, Transnet has reported three fuel theft incidents on its pipelines.

On 9 March, Transnet security tactical teams were dispatched to a site in Verkykerskop, midway between Vrede and Harrismith, after a pressure drop was detected on a pipeline.

They discovered a block valve chamber had been tampered with, which resulted in massive diesel spillage into the nearby Meul River.

Environmental teams had to be called in to clean up the toxic mess.

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According to Transnet Pipelines spokesperson Saret Knoetze, there have already been 77 incidents of fuel theft this year, involving 3.5 million litres.

But, Knoetze told amaBhungane, this is a major improvement – last year there had been 141 incidents by this time.

She credits new security interventions by Transnet which have reduced theft by half.

The Transnet Pipelines are among the largest forms of public infrastructure in the country.

Buried two metres beneath the surface, the pipelines span 3,800 kilometres across five provinces, pumping 250 million litres each week.

Without the pipeline, we would have a thousand more petrol tankers clogging our roads every day.

Vrede is at the midpoint of the pipeline which stretches from Durban to Gauteng.

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