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S. Africa to impose harsher penalties for infrastructure related offences

Xinhua, August 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

The South African National Assembly has passed the Criminal Matters Amendment Bill, which will impose harsher penalties for infrastructure related offences, Parliament said on Wednesday.

Mathole Motshekga, chairman of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, said the aim of the bill is to change the law relating to the granting of bail and the imposition of minimum sentences in respect of persons accused of essential infrastructure-related offences.

Motshekga compared this kind of theft to economic sabotage, saying, "The threat to infrastructure is a threat to the state to exist."

The bill also makes provision for the new offence to be created relating to the tampering with or the damaging or destroying of essential infrastructure. It provides for a severe penalty of imprisonment not exceeding 30 years.

The bill specifies between privately and publicly owned infrastructures providing or distributing basic services, such as energy, transport, communications and water and sanitation to the public.

The aim is to ensure that legislation be in place to regulate these aspects adequately instead of having to rely on the common law offence of malicious damage to property, which is often regarding as a minor offence.

As a result of this bill only a court will now be able to grant bail to persons in custody for essential infrastructure-related offences, taking away the right of the police or the prosecutors to grant bail in such cases.

The amendments will further ensure that the courts send out a message in terms of bail indicating the seriousness of the crimes in question.

The bill was passed as infrastructure theft is increasingly becoming organised and is committed with violence. The bill therefore also makes provision to deal with organised crime syndicates.

Official figures show that the cost of replacing stolen metal (only from electricity utility Eskom, telecommication company Telkom and transport company Transnet) amounted to 13.6 million rand (more than 1 million U.S. dollars) in the first four months this year, compared to 12.5 million rand (about 980,000 dollars) in April 2014.

Motshekga said the bill should go ahead with speed but require social mobilisation to help law enforcement officers to track down criminals.

"When these crimes occur, it is the community at large that suffer. Government cannot do this on its own. It is the responsibility of all of us to stop such activities from happening, he said. Endit