Kabelo Masoabi
A mechanic employed by Kopano Ke Matla Joint Venture, the contractor constructing the Polihali to Katse transmission tunnel, has denied stealing 50 litres of diesel from the company’s camp at Ha Bereng, Katse, in Leribe.
The 42-year-old, Retšelisitsoe Nchaka, is facing a theft charge before the Leribe Magistrate’s Court, where he has pleaded not guilty when he appeared this past week. The matter is before Magistrate Tlohang Mohanoe.
The prosecution alleges that on 23 April last year, police from Ha Lejone stopped Mr Nchaka’s vehicle and found two 25-litre containers filled with diesel. Officers allegedly asked him to produce proof that he had purchased the fuel, but he failed to do so.
Testifying in his defence, Mr Nchaka maintained that the diesel belonged to him and had been bought by a client, Ntšepase Matete, as part-payment for vehicle repairs.
He told the court that Ms Matete owed him M1000 from a repair bill of M5000 and, at his request, used the outstanding amount to buy 50 litres of diesel.
“I declared the diesel to the security guard when I entered the camp with it. After a couple of days, when I knocked off after my night shift, I again informed security that I was leaving with the same containers,” Mr Nchaka said.
He said he intended travelling to Johannesburg, South Africa, and carried the diesel because the fuel gauge in his vehicle was not working properly.
According to Mr Nchaka, police later stopped him on the road and escorted him back to the company camp to establish whether the diesel had been stolen. He said he was arrested the following morning after police consulted his employer.
Ms Matete corroborated Mr Nchaka’s account, telling the court that she had indeed bought the diesel from Tau Filling Station and delivered it to him.
She said she could not produce the original receipt because she believed it had been lost after taking her vehicle to a car wash. She later obtained a replacement receipt from the filling station, but police allegedly rejected it because it had been handwritten.
Ms Matete further alleged that police accused her of protecting Mr Nchaka, threatened to arrest her as an accomplice and demanded a M1000 bribe to secure her release.
“My vehicle was impounded for several days until I paid the money,” she testified.
Tau Filling Station employee, Monaheng Tsuname, confirmed issuing Ms Matete with a replacement receipt. However, he testified that it was not for the diesel at the centre of the case.
Mr Tsuname said the station occasionally issued replacement receipts to customers who claimed to have misplaced their originals and that, during his 20 years at the station, he had never encountered what he believed to be a false claim. He also alleged that Ms Matete offered to buy him a drink after he assisted her, but he declined.
Mr Nchaka also described the fuel control procedures at the Katse construction camp, saying diesel is kept in a secure storage facility monitored by CCTV cameras and security personnel.
He said employees’ private vehicles are not allowed near the fuel storage area and that diesel is transported by an authorised fuel bowser crew directly to machinery.
He explained that a fuel bowser is a vehicle fitted with a fuel tank and pumping equipment used to transport and dispense fuel. On construction sites, mines and other large infrastructure projects, it carries fuel from a central storage tank to heavy machinery in the field.
“The machinery’s fuel tanks remain locked before and after refuelling, while after-hours refuelling requires the presence of a supervisor and is conducted under CCTV surveillance,” he said.
Defence counsel, Advocate Makase, argued that the condition of the diesel found in Mr Nchaka’s possession supported his client’s version of events.
He submitted that had Mr Nchaka siphoned the fuel from the company’s machinery, the diesel would have been contaminated with dirt and other impurities from the machines’ tanks. Instead, he argued, police recovered clean, fresh diesel consistent with fuel obtained directly from a filling station’s storage tanks.
The matter was postponed to 27 July for the parties to conclude the trial.