Bloemfontein: The Bloemfontein Regional Court has handed down harsh sentences to convicted copper thieves for incidents of damage to essential infrastructure and copper theft that occurred within the Mangaung Metro. They were sentenced for separate crimes committed involving Centlec, Eskom and Transnet infrastructure.
The cases were finalised on 25 and 27 June, based on compelling evidence that was presented against the accused in court.
Lefa Olifant (31) and Modise Lebuso (30) were each sentenced to an effective 20 years’s direct imprisonment.
The duo’s court case followed their arrest by security officials after Transnet’s signal cable was stolen during the night of 28 and 29 September 2022.
This cable stolen from a manhole was valued at R56 000.
“The court sentenced them to 20 years’ imprisonment for tampering with essential infrastructure, and 15 years’ for theft,” confirmed Mojalefa Senokoatsane, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the Free State.
“The court ordered that the sentence for theft run concurrently with the sentence for tampering, resulting in an effective 20-year prison sentence for each.”
He said Lebuso and Olifant were two of four initial arrestees; the others absconded after being granted bail.
In another case finalised on 27 June, the court sentenced Lesotho national Mathokoa Sebaka (51) to 18 years’ of direct imprisonment.
He was sentenced after being found guilty of damaging essential infrastructure of Telkom, as well as the theft of underground copper cables worth
R5 000.
Sebaka was arrested in Victoria Road, Bloemfontein, on 4 November 2023.
Senokoatsane said the harsh sentences handed down in both cases rested on the strength of argument presented by prosecutor Amore Coetzee, who emphasised the negative impact of infrastructure crimes on the country.
“In aggravation of the sentencing the prosecutor, Coetzee, argued that the crimes were not only an attack on public infrastructure, but also an attack on the country’s economy,” said Senokoatsane.
“She emphasised that such offences have far-reaching consequences, including service disruptions and job losses.”
