Tshwane heads to court 'to get our own cables back'
Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga has vowed to approach the courts to have an interdict lifted after officials were barred from entering a scrapyard on Tuesday.
Msimanga went to the scrapyard in Pretoria West after the city received a tip-off that the stolen cables were ready to be melted but was refused entry due to an earlier court interdict obtained by the owner.
The scrapyard was granted an interdict against the city, preventing officials from entering or searching the premises after they accused officials of harassing them.
According to Msimanga, the copper cables are worth R500 000.
"This has been a court order that they have had for quite a while and now with this evidence and the confessions of the people that were in the truck to say that's what they are going. We are now going to court and we are going to use that to have that court order declared null and void"
He says the city suspects a copper syndicate is operating within the city after evidence was uncovered detailing alleged scheduled drop-offs at the Pretoria West scrapyard.