Rail infrastructure thieves receive lengthy prison sentences
State-owned Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has welcomed the conviction and sentencing of four people arrested in connection with the theft and damage of essential Transnet infrastructure that seriously impacted on its rail operations.
On August 19, the Nxuba Magistrate’s Court in the Eastern Cape sentenced the perpetrators to a collective 50 years in prison.
Charlie van Dyk, 43, Elandre Senekal, 29, Michelle van Straaten, 23, and Kwakhanya Bolowana, 28, were convicted on charges of housebreaking, damaging essential infrastructure and theft.
This relates to an incident which took place at the Scalen Rail Station on Mortimer road in Nxuba in March last year, in which four batteries, transformers and cables, valued at R57 000, were stolen.
“Security-related incidents on our rail network continue to have a crippling impact on our operations, leading to train delays, cancellations and tonnage losses. Criminal syndicates attack the rail network, targeting essential rail infrastructure by damaging, tempering, vandalising and disrupting rail operations,” TFR security and forensic acting GM Shawn Johnson said.
The four criminals received five years for housebreaking, 15 years for damage to essential infrastructure and 15 years for theft. Senekal and Van Straaten were jailed for an effective 20 years, while Van Dyk and Bolowana will serve 30 years.
“In July this year, we had 481 criminal-related incidents on our rail network, including cable theft and vandalism. The TFR security department continues to collaborate with law enforcement agencies, customers and other State-owned companies to address the ongoing criminal attacks on the rail networks,” Johnson said.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest News
Showroom
Since 1919, Victaulic’s innovative solutions and design services continue to increase construction productivity and reduce risk, ensuring projects...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Education: Consulting with member companies to obtain the optimal benefits from their B-BBEE spending, skills resources as well as B-BBEE points
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
