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 rail operations.

On Monday last week (19 August 2024), at the Nxuba Magistrate’s Court (formerly Cradock) in the Eastern Cape the four were found guilty and sentenced 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 2023, in which four batteries, transformers, and cables, valued at R57 000 were stolen.

The four individuals received five years for housebreaking and 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.

TFR Acting General Manager Security and Forensic, Shawn Johnson, said that security-related incidents on TFR’s rail network continues to have a crippling impact on its 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,” Johnson said.

“In July this year, we had 481 criminal-related incidents on our rail network, including cable theft and vandalism.”

Johnson added that 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.

Written by Africa Ports & Ships and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.