The Westonaria District Court handed Bangani Lucky Mangwana, 44, a three-year prison sentence for his involvement in the sale of illegal prepaid electricity vouchers.
One of the three year was suspended for five years.
Tebogo Rakau, Divisional Executive for Security at Eskom said Mangwana was arrested in May 2017 in Westonaria after being found in possession of 39 printed prepaid electricity slips to the value of R35 970,60.
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Police, accompanied by Eskom investigators, arrested Mangwana following a tip-off from the public alerting them to the delivery of the slips.
“Electricity theft remains a major challenge in South Africa, costing the country billions of rands each year. However, recent court judgments, particularly in cases related to the sale of illegal electricity vouchers, also known as ghost vending, show the hard line that the courts are taking to electricity theft,” Rakau said.
“This is a stern warning to all those involved in ghost vending and other forms of electricity theft,” he said.
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