Man arrested for stealing Telkom cable
During the citizen’s arrest, the man said he lived in Mountain View, Mhluzi.
Last weekend, a man was caught by residents in Khureng Street, Extension 3, with a 7m Telkom cable.
He was also found with a backpack that had a wheel spanner, a bolt cutter, a side cutter, and a knife inside it.
He further said he used the tools to steal cables, and he planned to sell them at a scrapyard for R120 per kilogramme, however, if he bargained well, he could receive R200 for the cables.
The Mhluzi police were called to the scene, and the man was transported to the police station.
He was, surprisingly, not formally charged by the police.
• Middelburg has been grappling with cable theft and other essential infrastructure issues, especially during load-shedding.
In 2023, the municipality generally dealt with about 500 complaints after load-shedding due to theft
It also emerged that the municipality had incurred theft and vandalism damages to the tune of R1.3m per day during load-shedding.
• In August, the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court sentenced Sicelo Goodman Nkuna for theft and corruption.
The charges emanated from a copper cable theft that occurred in September 2015. Nkuna was arrested during an operation conducted by members of the Rapid Rail Policing Unit (RRPU), which partnered with Eskom and Transnet. The officials had arrested two scrapyard employees at a scrapyard.
It was later revealed that Nkuna took copper cables to a scrapyard. While the two men were being arrested, Nkuna contacted the RRPU captain, asking him not to confiscate his cables and stating he was on his way to the site.
Upon his arrival, Nkuna attempted to bribe one of the constables with R1 700 and promised an additional R5 000 if the police left the cables untouched. However, the cables had already been identified as stolen property by Transnet and Eskom personnel.
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