Sanral denies its employees were arrested over Mpumalanga heist

The South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) says none of its employees had been arrested in connection with the heist on the R40 near Hazyview in Mpumalanga on Wednesday.

Instead, Sanral said, one of the employees of the main contractor responsible for road maintenance was detained after a misunderstanding with the police. He has since been released.

A security guard, who also worked as a co-driver, was fatally shot during the heist and other guards had minor injuries. The group of about 15 armed suspects then fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

In its report, the police said that while the police team was processing the crime scene, one Sanral employee responsible for cleaning up the roads was found in possession of an undisclosed amount of cash, suspected to have been stolen out of the safe of the damaged cash van. 

Police said the 32-year-old was immediately arrested on charges of theft.

“Sanral would like to clarify that none of its employees have been arrested by the police in connection with the alleged heist,” Sanral's general manager of communications Vusi Mona said on Thursday, adding that none of its employees were directly responsible for cleaning national roads.

Mona said in terms of Sanral’s business model, the cleaning of roads was handled by contractors through the routine road maintenance contracts. 

Sanral said one of the employees of VEA Construction, the main contractor responsible for road maintenance, was detained after a misunderstanding with the police.

“The said employee was sent out to assist in clearing the scene as would normally happen with any accident on the routes a contractor patrols.”

Upon their arrival at the scene, the contractor’s employees found the police had barricaded the scene for investigation.

Once the forensics team and the fire department had concluded their work, they instructed the team to proceed with the cleanup. 

“The misunderstanding and arrest happened when a second team of police officers found the member cleaning the scene.

“During the arrest, the said individual identified himself as a Sanral employee, as opposed to mentioning the contractor’s company.”

Mona said the misunderstanding had been resolved and the individual was released on Thursday. 

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