The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, on 22 May 2017, sentenced four members of an electricity theft syndicate to a combined 42 years in prison.<\/p>\n
The syndicate were found guilty on 16,452 counts related to electricity theft.<\/p>\n
Presiding Judge Leonie Windell sentenced the kingpin of the syndicate to serve 18 years in prison for managing a criminal enterprise, 12 years for participating in a criminal enterprise in the form of racketeering, 10 years for the theft of a prepaid electricity credit dispensing machine belonging to Eskom and 10 years for numerous counts of theft related to the illegal sale of electricity.<\/p>\n
The son of the kingpin was found guilty of participating in a criminal enterprise, theft of an Eskom credit dispensing machine and numerous counts of electricity theft \u2013 resulting in a sentence of an effective 12 years in prison.<\/p>\n
The other co-accused in the case, who were \u201crunners\u201d for the syndicate and responsible for recruiting customers, were found guilty of participating in a criminal enterprise and electricity theft. They were each sentenced to an effective six years in prison.<\/p>\n
State prosecutor Advocate Jacob Serepo also launched an application for the court to review how the accused might have benefited financially from their illegal activities.<\/p>\n
If the court finds that the accused benefited from their crimes, they could face asset forfeiture, including property and vehicles.<\/p>\n
The accused were found guilty in December 2016 after a lengthy trial that started in 2012. Their bail was revoked after the court ruled against them, ensuring they remained in police custody until they were sentenced.<\/p>\n
Eskom said that it loses approximately R4 billion each year due to electricity theft in its various forms including ghost vending, meter tampering and bypassing and illegal connections.<\/p>\n