s 85 Damage to property of electricity licensee
85.—(1) Any person who —(a) removes, destroys or damages any electrical plant or electricity cable which is part of a transmission system that belongs to or that is under the management or control of an electricity licensee; (b) causes or permits the removal, destruction or damage of such electrical plant or electricity cable; or (c) in any way other than by paragraph (a) or (b), wilfully or recklessly hinders or prevents such electrical plant or electricity cable from being used or operated in the manner in which it is intended to be used or operated, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1 million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both. [42/2018] (2) [Deleted by Act 42 of 2018] (3) [Deleted by Act 42 of 2018] (4) Any person (A) may apprehend any other person (B) if B within A’s view commits an offence under this section and must, on such apprehension without unreasonable delay, hand over B to a police officer. (5) In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1)(a) or (b), it is a defence for the person charged to prove that the person took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.[42/2018] (6) If in any proceedings for any offence under subsection (1)(a) or (b), the defence involves acting on information supplied by any of the following:(a) an electricity licensee to whom any transmission system belongs or that manages or controls any transmission system; (b) any person to whom any infrastructure described in subsection (7) belongs or that manages or controls such infrastructure; (c) a licensed cable detection worker, then the person charged is not, without permission of the court, entitled to rely on that defence unless, within 14 clear days before the hearing, the person charged has served on the prosecutor a written notice giving such information as was then in the possession of the person charged identifying or assisting in the identification of the person who supplied the person charged with the information. [Act 27 of 2024 wef 01/07/2025] (7) This section applies to any infrastructure (including cable pipe-blocks and tunnels) housing or intended to house any transmission electricity cable, as it applies to any electrical plant or electricity cable which is part of a transmission system that belongs to or that is under the management or control of an electricity licensee, and for this purpose, a reference to an electricity licensee in this section is a reference to the person to whom the infrastructure belongs or that manages or controls the infrastructure.[Act 37 of 2021 wef 29/01/2022] [Act 27 of 2024 wef 01/07/2025] (8) In this section, “transmission electricity cable” has the meaning given by section 80(12).[Act 37 of 2021 wef 29/01/2022]