The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has welcomed the arrest and successful prosecution of diesel thieves.
Tampering with infrastructure
These criminals were tampering with the Transnet pipeline to steal petrol and diesel, damaging infrastructure.
In two separate matters, a man was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for damaging essential infrastructure. In another case, two men were sentenced to 10 and 15 years respectively, for theft of fuel.
Law enforcement commended
Nersa’s official responsible for petroleum pipelines regulation, Muzi Mkhize, praised law enforcement for the successful convictions.
“We commend the law enforcement agencies for the successful prosecution and incarceration of criminals who commit acts of economic sabotage in the country.
“We further plead with municipalities and landowners, on which critical infrastructure traverses, to co-operate with law enforcement agencies. To also earnestly protect both public and private infrastructure against acts of criminality and vandalism. This is because [not doing so] results in dire consequences for the country.”
In a question-and-answer session in October, President Cyril Ramaphosa said government was committed to combatting infrastructure vandalism.
Task teams to tackle related crimes
He revealed that some 20 economic infrastructure task teams have been formed through the South African Police Service (SAPS).
“A total of 946 personnel have been allocated to the 20 economic infrastructure task teams from existing structures within each province, district and station. They are experienced and knowledgeable personnel within their respective functional environments.
“The task teams integrate processes, resources and intelligence across all of the operational environments of the SAPS under a single command.
“This is to enable them to successfully combat essential infrastructure crimes, illicit mining and extortion within the construction sector.
“The task teams incorporate personnel from SAPS divisions such as crime intelligence, visible policing and operations, and detective and forensic services, as well as the directorate for priority crime investigation,”” said Ramaphosa. – SAnews.gov.za
