A 53-year-old man has been sentenced to eight years direct imprisonment for tampering with electricity meters which cost the Buffalo City Municipality an estimated R180m in lost revenue.
Captain Anelisa Ngcakani of the Hawks said Gerrit Crowther was sentenced in the East London Regional Court on Tuesday on 11 counts of fraud.
He was arrested by the Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit in the Strand in the Western Cape in 2018 and since then had been in custody.
She said Crowther had presented himself as an employee of Eskom and Buffalo City Municipality and claimed to be providing a service that reduces electricity consumption through the installation of a device.
Ngcakani said he marketed and sold his services to businesses in the Buffalo City area for amounts ranging from R3000 to R60 000.
However, she said Crowther did not install any devices but instead tampered with electricity meters which consequently cost Buffalo City Municipality R180 million “as a result of this crime.”
