Johannesburg electricity utility City Power on Thursday announced the suspension of its risk and compliance security manager Isaac Dube following his arrest last week in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged cable theft worth R1.4-million.
Dube appeared briefly in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court today on charges of cable theft and possession of stolen property.
The utility said in a statement that the suspension would remain in force until the court proceedings were finalised.
“City Power has a responsibility to its stakeholders, customers and ratepayers to ensure it operates in accordance to stringent corporate governance standards. As a law-abiding corporate citizen, we respect the legal principle of being presumed innocent until proven guilty,” said City Power MD Sicelo Xulu.
He assured ratepayers that it was business as usual and that the arrest would have no bearing whatsoever on service delivery.
The case had been postponed to November 11.
City Power announced the arrest in an October 27 statement, in which the company noted that it, the Hawks and the South African Police Services would “investigate further to establish whether [Dube] was working with any syndicates” that were suspected of carrying out a number of cable theft incidents in Johannesburg.
“No one is above reproach in the fight against corruption and cable theft,” Xulu said, noting that Dube’s arrest was the culmination of months of investigation by City Power and the authorities.
Cable theft had been estimated to cost South Africa about R5-billion a year in direct and indirect costs.
To address the issue, government tabled the Criminal Matters Amendment Bill in June, which, if passed into law, would impose significantly harsher sentences on suspects convicted of cable theft.