Four Beit Bridge men appeared in court on Friday for allegedly vandalising the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) power line, before stealing 340kg of copper cables.

The cables are valued at R337 500, and the men allegedly intended to smuggle them into South Africa.

Lawrence Sibanda (28), Panganai Dube (28), Smart Dube (28) and Tendai Dube (27), all from the Dulibadzimu suburb in the border town, were not asked to plead to charges of contravening a section of the electricity act (vandalism, theft and disruption of power transmission) when they appeared  before  Magistrate Gloria Takundwa. Their bail application was opposed and they are still in custody.

In denying them bail, the court noted that, given the gravity of the offence and likely sentence if  they were convicted, there was no guarantee that the quartet would not abscond to South Africa. The magistrate also said that, if given bail, there was a likelihood that the accused would interfere with the ongoing investigation.

The prosecutor, Mr Forster Abeki, said that on 23 February, the accused connived with John Moyo and another accomplice, only identified as Anderson, who are still at large. Soon after hatching a plan to steal copper cables belonging to Zesa, the accused drove to the Bubi area in a Nissan truck. On arrival, Smart and Tendai alighted from the vehicle and pounced on the power line - the 11 kilovolt feeder - and cut four poles, resulting in a blackout in the area.

Local villagers became suspicious and reported the matter to ZESA officials, who in turn teamed up with the police and immediately attended the scene. They found the four accused persons at the scene, leading to their arrest. Further investigation led to the recovery of 340kg of copper wire that had been pulled off the power line and rolled into bundles. A bolt cutter and a saw, which were used in cutting the cables and poles, were also found at the scene.

The case was postponed to 19 March.