Three Tshwane officials nabbed for transformer theft

They were arrested in Laudium, southwest of the city.

The latest arrests were part of an ongoing investigation, which began in November, when 11 suspects were arrested for the transformer theft.

The 10 suspects, who were subcontractors, were released after they could not be linked to the crime.

The remaining suspect, an employee of the municipality, remained behind bars and has since made several court appearances and is due back in court in August.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Tshwane District Commissioner Samuel Thine said an investigation by the Gauteng Organised Crime Unit led to the arrest of another three employees from the City of Tshwane.

"The three suspects arrested today (Tuesday) will be charged with theft of essential infrastructure and are expected to appear before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court tomorrow (Wednesday).

"We are making inroads, because essential infrastructure theft, as we know, it cripples the economy of the country. It also cripples the households, where we run into a shortage of electricity, where this infrastructure is supposed to be taken to the right places, they are transferred somewhere else, in terms of thefts."

Thine added that the theft of transformers was not the first in the metro.

"We can say it's the first case where we discovered that this theft of such a huge sum of money is in Tshwane, although there are other small transformers that we discovered in other areas. As we know, organised crime (unit) under the leadership of Brigadier Kopane they are also investigating other areas and linking the suspects."

More arrests are expected as investigations continue.

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