Seven Emfuleni Municipality employees are expected to appear before the Vanderbijlpark Magistrates’ Court on Monday. Image: X
Fraud
1Min
South Africa
Seven Emfuleni Municipality employees in court over R150,000 electricity fraud
Seven municipal employees face fraud, theft and money laundering charges after allegedly running an illegal electricity reconnection scheme and manipulating municipal debt records.
Seven Emfuleni Municipality employees are expected to appear before the Vanderbijlpark Magistrates’ Court on Monday for a bail application after being arrested in connection with an alleged illegal electricity reconnection scheme.
The accused face charges of fraud, theft involving R150,000, money laundering and tampering with essential infrastructure.
It is alleged that between February 2024 and June 2026, the employees exploited electricity disconnections by offering residents and businesses illegal reconnections in exchange for payments.
Investigators further allege that the suspects manipulated municipal records to reflect reduced outstanding balances while the original debts remained unchanged.
The seven employees were arrested on August 21 and 23 during a takedown operation conducted by the Political Killings Task Team.
Their arrests followed an internal investigation by Emfuleni Municipality and a subsequent police probe into alleged corruption involving the municipality's electricity services.
Emfuleni Municipality welcomed the arrests, saying it remains committed to rooting out corruption and holding officials implicated in wrongdoing accountable.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has indicated that it will oppose bail when the accused appear in court.
