RRLLB81
Assignment 1
Semester 2 2023
(757516)- DUE 6
September 2023
,ACADEMIC HONESTY DECLARATION
1. I understand what academic dishonesty entails and am aware of Unisa’s policies
in this regard.
2. I declare that this assignment is my own, original work. Where I have used
someone else’s work, I have indicated this by using the prescribed style of
referencing. Every contribution to, and quotation in, this assignment from the
work or works of other people has been referenced according to the prescribed
style.
3. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention
of passing it off as his or her own work.
4. I did not make use of another student’s work and submit it as my own.
NAME:
SIGNATURE:
STUDENT NUMBER:
MODULE CODE: RRLLB81
DATE:
TOPIC SELECTED:
Theft of electricity
MARK RECEIVED FOR ASSIGNMENT 01:
MARK RECEIVED FOR ASSIGNMENT 02:
2
, ABSTRACT
Theft of electricity is one of the challenges with which South African Eskom is struggling
with. The South African company Eskom has lost billions of money in annual revenue
owing to theft of electricity. However, theft of electricity is not a statutory offence in
South Africa and besides not being a statutory offence on legislations, prosecutors
would like to punish any person accused of stealing electricity. Theft of electricity is the
behavior that involves users conducting illegal operations on electrical meters to avoid
individual electricity bills, is a common phenomenon in the developing countries. In this
context, there are conflicting High Court decisions on whether theft of electricity is an
offence at common-law or indeed an offence at all.
The purposes of this report is to climax the problem of electricity theft in South Africa
and the conflicting jurisprudence from the High Court prior 1996 and post 1996 on
whether electricity can be stolen and also to recommend the Parliament to amend the
legislation in order to criminalise theft of electricity specifically, to empower Eskom to
institute prosecutions against those who are alleged to have stolen electricity. The
essence of the principle of legality is to constrain governmental, legislative and judicial
power, and protect citizens from the arbitrary exercise of these powers. This is
especially true in the context of the drafting and interpretation of criminal law. Criminal
laws in particular must be drafted in a reasonably clear fashion to provide citizens with
fair warning of criminal sanction. The courts must also interpret these laws strictly, so
that citizens are not punished for conduct that did not fall within the scope of either a
common law or statutory crime.
KEYWORDS
S v Ndebele
Principle of legality
Theft
Electricity
Corporeal property
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