The Pretoria Magistrate court in South Africa has jailed Mlotha Nelson Usale, a pastor at Hastings Salanje’s Gods Chapel Church, for masterminding a battery theft syndicate that targeted Vodacom and MTN network towers.
Pastor Usale, 59, has been sentenced to 10 years direct imprisonment for tampering with essential infrastructure and 8 years each for 3 counts of fraud worth R150 000. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
Usale was found guilty of running a syndicate that stole batteries from network towers across the country, disguising them as commercial solar batteries, and selling them to unsuspecting consumers through social media platforms.
The syndicate was discovered after a customer reported a faulty battery to the police, leading to the arrest of two other Malawian nationals in May 2022. They were sentenced to 8 years each in July 2023.
Usale pleaded guilty and offered to pay a fine of R200 000, but state prosecutor Advocate Tholoana Sekhonyana argued that direct imprisonment was warranted due to the severity of the offences.
Magistrate Chulu agreed with the state that the financial losses suffered by the victims and the cost to replace the batteries and fix the damage were substantial.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi, has welcomed the sentence, praising the investigating officers for their work in securing the conviction and sentencing.
