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The United National Transport Union has welcomed the strides Transnet Freight Rail was making to arm security personnel with weapons in the quest to fight crime at the state-owned entity.
Transnet is estimated to have lost R3.7 billion rand in revenue due to cable theft.
Now, according to reports, the state company will be issuing a tender next month to procure ammunition, handguns, and longer-range weapons for its security personnel.
Last year the Minister of Justice granted security officers peace officer status which allowed them to make arrests, but UNTU said this was not enough.
In a statement on Wednesday, UNTU general-secretary, Cobus van Vuuren, said Transnet's internal security personnel have been facing a losing battle without being armed, and have been put in dangerous situations where they could not protect themselves from armed criminals.
Transnet to arm security personnel in a bid to combat crime https://t.co/CAyUv2q0xo @HeadofficeUntu @NPA_Prosecutes @ReliableTFR @AlgoaFM @AlgoaFMNews pic.twitter.com/IhzrBgIBss
— AlgoaFMNews (@AlgoaFMNews) November 22, 2023
He said while they welcomed the granting of peace officer status to the security officers which allowed them to make arrests he said it was like taking "a knife to a gunfight".
Van Vuuren also said that they recognise the work done by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in ensuring that those found guilty of stripping the country's resources and bleeding the local exports and imports economy are prosecuted," the statement reads.
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Seven suspects were recently found guilty of cable theft and sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison, in the regional court in Komani in the Eastern Cape.
A further two suspects were sentenced to 10 years on similar charges in the Pretoria North magistrates court.
"These are a few of the harsh sentences handed down by our courts, and UNTU believes that they will serve as a warning to these syndicates that such criminality will not be tolerated, and we praise our Judiciary system for handing down such severe sentences."
