Taung man gets 12 years for blowing up sewerage infrastructure

1 Jun 2025

An act of sabotage that blew up a vital sewerage transformer — and left the perpetrator injured — has landed a 23-year-old man from Taung behind bars for 12 years.

On Thursday, 29 May, the Taung Regional Court sentenced 23-year-old Karabo Mocumi of Dithakwaneng Village to 12 years’ direct imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to damaging essential infrastructure.

Read more: Ermelo court delivers harsh sentence to cable thief as infrastructure crimes continue to rise

Cost of sabotage

Mocumi’s ill-advised decision to cut a copper cable connected to a sewerage transformer on 06 April 2024 in Reivilo, near Taung, backfired spectacularly when the transformer exploded, injuring him and disrupting vital community services.

According to the NPA, residents who rushed to the scene found Mocumi still at the wreckage scene. Emergency services were called and the injured saboteur was taken to hospital before being arrested and released on R500 bail.

In court, Mocumi pleaded guilty. State prosecutor Rebaona Mokgopa argued that crimes such as these weren’t just reckless; they were rampant and fuelled South Africa’s infamous energy crisis — load shedding — which had wreaked havoc on service delivery and the economy.

Magistrate Bhuti Zulu echoed the sentiments, stressing the heavy toll such offences took on communities and the need for sentences that packed a punch.

Read more: Western Cape town ‘held to ransom’ by cable theft syndicate counts health, economic costs of blackouts

Welcoming the verdict, Dr Rachel Makhari, Director of Public Prosecutions in North West, praised everyone involved in securing the conviction. “This sentence underscores the NPA’s commitment to fighting crime and upholding the rule of law. It sends a clear message: tampering with essential infrastructure will not be tolerated,” she said.

Daily Maverick asked the NPA for statistics on infrastructure damage cases that had ended up in court this year. The NPA confirmed that while it did not maintain official records on such cases, this was only the second it was aware of to come before a court this year, though the true number of incidents was likely to be higher.

Read more: Copper scrap is becoming a ‘strategic material’ as shortages loom — UN

Mocumi’s case shines a light on a wider challenge facing South Africa: the urgent need to protect and upgrade critical infrastructure amid persistent threats from theft, vandalism and ageing assets. DM

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Cost of sabotage