KZN municipality official arrested for power theft
Image: Facebook: Mbeko Nzimande
A KwaZulu-Natal municipality official was arrested after allegedly leveraging her municipal position to repeatedly restore power after numerous disconnections.
Mbeko Nzimande, 44, an uMgungundlovu district municipality communications department official, was arrested on Tuesday morning.
Provincial police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said the 44-year-old was arrested by Alexandra Road police.
Nzimande appeared at the Pietermaritzburg magistrate's court on Tuesday afternoon.
According to the charge sheet, seen by TimesLIVE, Nzimande is facing five counts of “tampering, damaging or destroying of essential infrastructure”.
It is alleged that she owes the municipality more than R200,000 in electricity.
Sources claimed Nzimande would be disconnected by the municipality but would call on a municipality contact to reconnect her power without paying.
Her bail was not opposed in court as she was deemed not a flight risk. She was released on R1,000 bail and is due back in court on April 4.
A source close to the investigation said more arrests were expected.
She was arrested as part of a pilot project run by the Msunduzi local municipality (under the uMgungundlovu municipality) to crack down on illegal infrastructure tampering and electricity theft.
TimesLIVE