Fochville – A benevolent 80-year-old farmer has been arrested for illegally connecting, distributing, and selling electricity to communities that have settled on his Fochville farm, Merafong City Local Municipality, in Gauteng.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said earlier this week, on Tuesday (3 December 2024), a NATJOINTS team led by the SA Police Service, Eskom, and City Power arrived at the 80-year-old’s farm.
The law enforcement team found three transformers, 119 electricity meter boxes, and electrical cables used to connect households, which they confiscated.
The elderly farmer was arrested after he was found to have been illegally connecting, distributing, and selling electricity to communities that have settled on his farm.
Although Brigadier Mathe did not name the suspect, she said the elderly farmer first appeared in court on Wednesday, (4 December 2024).
He has been charged with tampering with essential infrastructure costing R90 000, theft of electricity worth R6 million, and meter boxes valued at R476 000.
Brigadier Mathe said the farmer was remanded in custody after the matter was postponed to Wednesday, (11 December 2024).
Brigadier Mathe said the farmer’s arrest was part of the NATJOINTS Energy Safety and Security workstream to tackle crime that hampers Eskom operations.
Since its establishment in 2022, the workstream has seen a reduction of incidents of sabotage and criminality affecting Eskom.
“On a weekly basis, this structure strives to ensure that there are deployments in place to prevent, combat, and investigate incidents that would hamper the delivery of electricity through generation, transmission, and distribution,” explained Brigadier Mathe.
“The structure sits on a daily basis and monitors all power stations and essential infrastructure throughout the country.”
“It is inclusive of various other government departments including South African National Defence Force, State Security Agency, South African Revenue Service, National Prosecuting Authority, Asset Forfeiture Unit and many others.”
