Eskom Congratulates Hawks for Arresting Employee Who Allegedly Stole R800 000 Worth of Hydraulic Oil

• The Hawks are working hard to address infrastructure crime at South Africa's power utility
• After an extensive investigation, Hawks nabbed an Eskom employee in connection to the theft of R800 000 worth of hydraulic oil
• The arrest is the latest in a string of law enforcement-led operations aimed at curbing theft at the power utility

STANDERTON - The Hawks have arrested an Eskom employee for the alleged theft of 10 drums of hydraulic oil from the power utility stores facility in Mpumalanga.

The power utilities general manager for security, Advocate Karen Pillay, applauded the authorities for their swift response to the serious issue of infrastructure crime, which is wreaking havoc on the already ailing electrical grid.

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According to SABC News, the stolen drums are worth R800 000, and the hydraulic oil thief was apprehended on Monday, 17 October, after an extensive internal investigation.

The alleged oil drum thief appeared in the Standerton Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, 19 October, and has been placed into police custody to await the outcome of his bail application.

Pillay vowed that the power utility would do its best to ensure that bail is denied and the alleged hydraulic oil thief faced the full might of the law, SowetanLIVE reported.

Hawks apprehend three copper cable thieves in Mpumalanga

Similarly, three other Eskom employees were apprehended for allegedly stealing copper cables at Eskom's Matla power station In Mpumalanga.

The power utility reported that the suspects were under surveillance and investigators caught them as they were attempting to relocate the copper cable from where they were hidden.

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South Africans react to the arrest of the Eskom employees

South Africans took to social media to call for more arrests:

Malume TeeKay claimed:

"They should arrest De Ruyter for sabotage."

Arnold Khoza added:

"They must arrest also their sender he is just a kingpin, but there is someone big behind these syndicates."

Aubrey Mantwana commented:

"He must just tell the country who he is working with and how did he steal so much fuel, and who he was selling it to."

Joe White stated:

"With the Hawks, I've learned to wait before any Congratulations because their cases usually fall flat when it comes to 'suspected' crimes like that."

Ngcaciso Liyatha Amyoli said:

"Slowly but surely, we gonna see what we want."

Transnet fuel Bandit nabbed by multidisciplinary team in connection to R102 M fuel heist

In a similar story, Briefly News reported that Hawks arrested the suspected kingpin of a syndicate implicated in fuel stolen from the Transnet pipeline on Wednesday, 19 October.

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The arrest of the alleged kingpin followed that of two other suspects on Saturday, 15 October. The suspects were apprehended for fuel theft and tampering with the Transnet pipeline in Vrede, Frees Sate. The criminals were caught after allegedly delivering the contraband in Kromdraai, Witbank.

Source: Briefly News