Thabazimbi Regional Court has handed down hefty prison sentences to four foreign nationals who stole essential infrastructure from Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) network.
Nelson Chama (31), Artwel Chakaraya (31), Blessing Mathongo (35), and Ophius Marindire (32), were each sentenced to 49 years’ imprisonment.
This comes after the men were found guilty of several charges related to the theft of essential infrastructure from the railway line between Northam and Dwaalboom in Limpopo.
They were sentenced to 30 years after being found guilty of the charge of tampering, damaging or destroying essential infrastructure, 15 years for the theft of ferrous or non-ferrous metals, two years for entering South Africa without a valid passport, and two years for failing to use a port of entry.
TFR said it welcomed the recent arrest and conviction of the thieves.
In a separate incident, quick reaction by a private security company, TFR and the police led to the recovery of contact wire stolen from Perdekop in Mpumalanga. The crime is still under investigation.
TFR’s general manager of forensics and security, Shawn Johnson, welcomed the recent successes.
