The criminal case, which has been before the Gqeberha Commercial Crimes Court for more than six years, was due to continue on Wednesday after at last getting underway in March.

The trial was also waylaid by Mohiudeen seeking a high court review of magistrate Nolitha Bara’s decision against an application that he be supplied with further particulars of the charges against him. The review application was filed in February 2023. In December last year, the high court ruled against him. In that application, he was accused of trying to use Stalingrad tactics to delay proceedings.

The state’s first witness Adrian Samuels, general manager of Durban-based company Akisisa, which uplifted the rails, was due to continue on the stand in June to be cross examined by Swartz and Mohiudeen’s lawyers after giving evidence in March. However, illness prevented the trial proceeding in June. New dates for this week – 30 July to 1 August – were given.

In the meantime, Mohiudeen had changed lawyers for the fifth time in his criminal case, returning to attorney Nasser Ally, whom he had previously ditched.

No hearing took place on Wednesday as Samuels had missed his flight to Gqeberha, according to state prosecutor Gerrit van der Merwe.

On Thursday morning, proceedings were delayed until 11am as Mohiudeen’s new advocate, Cheryl Sjoberg, was still flying in from Johannesburg. At 11am, the court heard Sjoberg’s flight was delayed, and court was adjourned until 2pm.

When court reconvened before magistrate Thabisa Mpimpilashe in the afternoon, Sjoberg asked for a postponement as she had been instructed “probably a week ago”. She said she had not received the charge sheet and other crucial documents she needed to prepare.

This was despite Van der Merwe saying he had been told three weeks ago that Mohiudeen had changed lawyers and reappointed Ally, who had then contacted him to ask for the exhibits.

“I went through them with him,” said Van der Merwe, adding that Ally had undertaken to be ready for the continuation of the trial.

“I was not informed they would be seeking a remand,” he said. “I was still under the impression we would be proceeding.”

He argued the trial should not be postponed further as there had been lengthy delays since 2019, mostly due to Mohiudeen having switched lawyers several times.

He pointed out that the court had already warned Mohiudeen twice that if his lawyers weren’t prepared because he had changed counsel, he would be forced to proceed without them, in line with Section 342A of the Criminal Procedures Act dealing with unreasonable delays.

Swartz’s advocate Mzwamadoda Mnyani did not agree to a further postponement as he said he was ready to proceed. Mnyani said the continuous delays had led him to previously apply for a separation of trials, which had been denied, and he reserved his rights to make another application.

Magistrate Mpimpilashe agreed there had been a history of delays “attributed to accused number one [Mohiudeen]”, and that one of the Section 342A warnings had been given by her.

She noted the state prosecutor had been “misled” that the case would be able to proceed and the state had spent money on airfare and accommodation for two witnesses. Samuels had also flown back to South Africa from Dubai to take the stand for cross examination.

But Mpimpilashe granted the postponement until 8 December while handing down another warning that if Mohiudeen’s lawyers weren’t ready, the trial would nonetheless proceed.

This article was originally published in GroundUp, the original piece can be found here.

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KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the suspects, all from the same neighbouring country, were expected to appear in court on Friday.

Forty cellphone tower batteries from three cellphone network companies, amounting to a value of R1-million were found in the possession of the suspects.

Colonel Robert Netshiunda

“Astute investigations by the King Cetshwayo District’s Economic Infrastructure Task Team officers have resulted in the arrest of eight foreign nationals for tampering with essential infrastructure, possession of suspected stolen property, receiving suspected stolen property as well as possession of house-breaking implements,” he said.

Police officers were investigating break-ins at three cellphone towers in the district when they arrested four suspects at Gingindlovu for tampering with essential infrastructure.

“Further investigations led the Task Team members to an identified premises in Chatsworth where another four suspects were caught in the act packaging suspected stolen cellphone tower batteries,” said Netshiunda.

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South Africa’s vast investment into electricity infrastructure over generations is being systematically stolen, smelted down into ingots and billets, and then exported with impunity by many scrap metal dealers who continue to turn a blind eye to the origin of what they buy.

That’s the view of the Copper Development Agency: Africa (CDAA), a stakeholder in planning counter-strategies with the SA Government for years on the illicit copper economy, as well as monitoring both official action and inaction on the issue.

Copper expert and CDAA acting chair Evert Swanepoel estimates the damage to the SA economy as being worth at least R8 billion per annum.

“There really is a copper crisis and catastrophe in full swing in South Africa at the moment and our members cannot even buy copper in the country – it must be imported at incredible cost – and that whilst tonnes of stolen copper is smelted and exported under the noses of the government, police, port authorities and the SA Revenue Service (SARS).”

“The worst is that the stolen copper export boom – as beneficial as it is to the scrap metal industry at present – is fuelling theft and infrastructure degradation at a catastrophic rate from municipalities and utilities throughout SA.”

Swanepoel said copper cables are in demand because they are already 99% pure copper and thus far easier to smelt down and turn into ingots for export at minimum cost whilst maximising profits for some scrap dealers.

He added that whilst SA seems to be on the cusp of solving the load shedding crisis, de facto black-outs would still plague many at municipal level due to the increase theft of copper cables and transformers at grass-roots level.

“What we could likely find after a mammoth institutional effort to get Eskom working again, is that electricity distribution challenges brought about by cable and transformer theft will be magnified to cause widespread de facto load shedding instead,” warned Swanepoel.

Damage to the electricity supply caused by thieves stealing copper cables has not only increased the
costs incurred by national and municipal power utilities, but has also placed an additional burden on
businesses, residents and service providers already grappling with scheduled rolling blackouts, known
locally as load shedding

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC)

Government strategies have been counter-productive and have not addressed core issues such as scrap cash sales which drive copper theft, and taxing copper exports.

A scrap metal export ban aimed at reducing both copper theft from SA’s crumbling infrastructure and the export of stolen copper was not successful and was not renewed at the beginning of 2024.

Yet the unrelenting lava flow of the illicit red metal out of South Africa  – Africa’s most developed economy – happens without government even attempting to tax the metal tsunami leaving the country, said Swanepoel.

With copper prices on the international market ranging from anything between USD10 000 and $11 000 per tonne, many scrap metal dealers in SA are now cashing in.

Swanepoel last year predicted that the SA government’s ban throughout 2023 on scrap metal exports would come to naught and would only damage the economy and the legitimate copper business.

He pulls no punches as he directly accuses government of “turning a blind eye” to the worsening situation.

“In South Africa we still see government not enacting the necessary regulations as it promised to curb widespread copper theft and export.”

“Now we are stuck with the situation where many in the scrap metal sector make an absolute killing exporting stolen copper which the SA government refuses to stop or is unable to prevent and does not even tax,” said an exasperated Swanepoel.

At the very least, Swanepoel adds, the SA government should take steps to test copper billets for purity before allowing export.

Six months ago, in its report on SA’s illicit copper economic, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) said every day, criminal elements strip copper from wherever they can find it, including roads, homes, construction sites and mines.

“The theft of copper from already ailing infrastructure severely affects the capacity and operations of state-owned entities and municipalities”

GI-TOC said the country’s critical infrastructure was “at a tipping point after years of chronic mismanagement and rampant theft”, and identified copper theft as a contributing factor.

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The minerals, mined from Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), were diverted from the Richards Bay Harbour and stored at a warehouse to be repackaged for sale to international buyers.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the South African Police Service (SAPS) task team deployed in the Richards Bay area to combat the theft of minerals made the discovery on 24 April.

“It’s alleged that this syndicate would transport fake minerals to the harbour and divert the original minerals to Johannesburg,” she said.

Police have registered a case of theft.

“This is the second recovery of minerals worth millions for the team. In March 2024, the team also found minerals at a Durban warehouse. The driver of the truck and the owner of the warehouse have since been arrested,” said Mathe.

National SAPS Commissioner General Fannie Masemola said:  “The team is also investigating the assassination of executives in the area. So far, 202 unlicensed firearms have been seized, 43 suspects have been arrested and 68 dockets are currently under investigation. Our intelligence remains on the ground to put a stop to these illegal activities in the mining sector.”

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