Five get 1,250 years for cable theft

Five cable thieves convicted on 50 counts of copper theft committed between 2016 and 2018 were among first offenders to be charged under amended legislation.

The five were found guilty in the Cape Town high court in February. Two other people who were charged alongside them were found guilty posthumously as they died during the trial.

The group stole copper cables belonging to Eskom and Telkom in the Namaqualand and Western Cape regions. They were slapped with a cumulative 1,250-year sentence. 

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