Clamp on copper cable theft in Tshwane

21/10/2014. Police officers with coper cables that were found at a scrapyard in Pretoria West during a raid by the Police and the Metero Police. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

21/10/2014. Police officers with coper cables that were found at a scrapyard in Pretoria West during a raid by the Police and the Metero Police. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published Oct 22, 2014

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Pretoria - Tshwane metro police are clamping down on copper cable trading, and on Tuesday closed down a notorious scrapyard, confiscating R12 000 worth of cables and arresting four men.

Metro police spokesman Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said the scrapyard was under observation for a few weeks. “From the observation, we determined that most dealers and recyclers in and around Tshwane were connected to this particular scrapyard,” he said.

Four men, aged between 36 and 41 years, were arrested when they took cables to the scrapyard at about 8.30am.

“Before arresting them, we asked for proof of ownership from the men and they could not produce it, and we apprehended them. The cables are estimated to be valued at around R12 670,” he said.

The operation is part of the city’s continuous programme of eradicating crime and keeping the city clean. “This is part of the daily operations in and around the city,” Mahamba said.

DA ward councillor Elma Nel commended the efforts made by the metro police. She said their work was paying off as they followed leads given to them by residents.

However, Nel conceded that there was a serious copper cable theft problem, not only in Pretoria but in Gauteng as a whole.

In July, Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa promised to beef up security after 11 suburbs in Centurion were left without power for almost a week after copper cables were stolen from the Brakfontein substation, costing the metro R8 million to repair.

The capital city loses about R30m a year because of copper cable theft. This year, nearly the same amount has been spent in only three months.

From July last year until June, almost 1 300 incidents of cable theft were reported across the city’s seven regions. From April to June, 450 cases of cable theft and vandalism at substations have been reported, and R20m lost.

Ramokgopa earlier this year branded the copper cable theft economic sabotage and said municipal employees couldn’t be ruled out as suspects.

“We think that this amounts to sabotage to undermine the economy of the capital city and the nation in general,” he said.

Pietman Roos, a policy analyst at the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci), said the government could curb the rise in copper cable theft by introducing a specialised police unit to deal with the crime that costs millions of rand.

In the June issue of the Sacci copper theft barometer, companies reported losses of R15.4m for May. This was an increase from R12.5m in April and R11m in March.

Pretoria News

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