Durban: A man believed to be a member of a copper theft syndicate appeared briefly in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Sphamandla Khumalo, 27, is charged with possession of suspected stolen property.
It is alleged that Khumalo was found with 2.5 tons of copper cable from the municipality, 463kg from Prasa and 240kg from Telkom, at a house in 33rd Avenue, Clermont, in December 2020.
The copper cables are valued at about R190 000.
Members of eThekwini investigations were patrolling the KwaDabeka area when they noticed smoke coming from behind a house.
They went to investigate and allegedly found Khumalo burning copper cables. The members questioned him. He said he was Sphamandla Xaba and the cables belonged to his late father.
However, when the SAPS was contacted, Khumalo fled the scene.
In April this year, Xaba was allegedly found with eThekwini cables at a scrapyard in Pinetown. It is also alleged that, in this case, he called himself Sphamandla Khumalo and Sphamandla Mchunu.
In May, Khumalo appeared in court and was denied bail. The court found that he had not presented exceptional circumstances permitting his release on bail.
In an affidavit opposing bail, the investigating officer, Warrant Officer Christina Botha, said: “The applicant gave different names and did not have any identification documents on him and did not supply the investigating team with ID numbers.
“The accused refused to sign any statements or let his fingerprints be taken. The theft of copper cables is crippling the community and the justice system cannot be seen as being lenient in their stance against copper theft syndicates.”
Botha said investigations into other members of the syndicate must be conducted, adding that the investigation was expected to be completed in four months or so.
The matter was postponed until later in July, for the docket which was not in court on Monday.
Daily News