A 34-year-old Mount Frere businessman, Sandile Andres Ntombela is to spend 12 years direct imprisonment after he was sentenced on Tuesday, 09 March 2021, for illegal power connections by the local regional court.
The UMtata based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Investigation proved that Ntombela was responsible for illegal power connections since 2018 at a string of flats he owned around Badisana Location in Mount Frere. He continuously tempered with the power utility’s Infrastructure resulting in Eskom losing over R178 00000.
Ntombela was arrested in July 2019 and made a series of court appearances after he was initially granted R10 000-00 bail.
The Mount Frere Regional Court has convicted Ntombela and sentenced him to 12 and 8 years imprisonment respectively for each count. Ntombela was convicted along with his entity Zamdela PTY LTD on two counts of theft and fraud. The sentences have been ordered to run concurrently which means an effective 12 years jail time. Furthermore, his business was fined R20 000-00.
The Investigation team was applauded by the Provincial Head of The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya for a job well done.