eThekwini employees arrested for diesel theft

Two employees of the eThekwini municipality have been arrested after they were allegedly caught red-handed stealing diesel.

The employees were found near a municipal water truck allegedly offloading diesel at a private residence while another water truck was parked next to the gate of the same residence in the eKukhanyeni area near Verulam.

The trucks were meant to be carrying water for delivery to communities.

Investigators were in the area after reports that several truck drivers were spotted in the area offloading diesel.

Two municipal employees were arrested, and a case of theft was opened at the Inanda police station.

Jimmy Ngcobo, eThekwini municipality’s head of the integrity and investigations, commended the team of investigators.

“Further investigations will be conducted in this area as it is alleged that diesel is frequently offloaded there,” he said.

Ngcobo said the stolen diesel was resold.

“We will not allow employees to steal municipal resources. We urge the community to report fraud and corruption cases to be investigated.”

The suspects were caught with 12 25l containers of offloaded diesel, which amounted to 300l, he said.

The city said that in the 2024/25 financial year there were 181 fraud and corruption cases and 126 infrastructure theft cases. There were 25 active criminal cases.

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