Johannesburg - Cable theft is crippling Gauteng metros, with the big three suffering R175million in losses in the last six months alone. From November 2017 to May 2018, Tshwane has lost R65m, Ekurhuleni R60m and Johannesburg R50m as the metros battle criminals.
According to the three cities, the theft has severe implications for both service delivery and businesses, which are losing revenue. Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the theft was associated with structural damage that costs even more to fix, forcing funds to be redirected from elsewhere.
“The money that we spend on replacing stolen cables could have been channelled into building millions of houses, providing new electricity and water connections, building and maintaining roads, installing new street lights and fixing potholes,” said Bokaba.
In September last year, Joburg was plunged into darkness when thieve gained access to underground tunnels and made off with cables supplying power to the city. In November, the city was set back again when criminals stole cables worth R2m at the city’s data centre in Braamfontein.
Ekurhuleni’s Themba Gadebe said the more than R60.5m incurred by the city includes day-to-day replacements of stolen cables and conversion of copper conductors to less theft-prone aluminium conductors plus labour and material. It also trickles into the contracts for the supply, delivery, installation, monitoring, maintenance and repairs of security systems, prevention and the provision of investigation support into all forms of illegal activities for the electricity distribution network assets.
“Theft of electrical cables has a major impact on service delivery as it results in unplanned and extended electricity supply failures. It affects the city’s maintenance schedule because the productive time that could have been used for maintenance and refurbishment on the electricity distribution network is lost to restoring power,” he said.
Johannesburg’s Luyanda Mfeka said the theft was felt by the city when it came to revenue.
“Cable theft impacts negatively on service delivery as it results in loss of revenue for City Power. The funds that are meant for delivery of services are redirected to replace the stolen and vandalised infrastructure,” he said.
The three are now joining forces to tackle this phenomenon. They have held meetings in a bid to curb the increase in the hope of coming up with harsher sentences for those behind the crimes.
Among other issues that were discussed were the modus operandi of cable theft, who is behind it and who is benefiting from it as well as mapping a way forward to devise a plan on how to effectively curb it.
Despite more information being sought and meetings planned to map a way forward and look at the past modus operandi, sources within the electricity division believe the act is an inside job. The sources said it baffles the mind how the criminals know where exactly to go dig and cut.
“They dig up one trench exactly where the cables are located. People who don’t work with that or were not responsible for putting the cables there wouldn’t know where they are located,” said one source.
The prevailing crime trend has forced the cities to become innovative and set aside funds to address the problem.
The City of Ekurhuleni has put in place a joint venture task team headed by Ekurhuleni metro police department, cable theft unit that includes the SAPS, the energy department and various CoE-appointed security service providers to primarily focus on analysing incidents, trends and modes of operation, identifying hot spot areas, forensic investigation of incidents and implementation of mitigation plans to reduce the number of theft incidents.
He said the city has adopted preventative measures that include installation of entrance alarms with pepper spray technology, perimeter beams and surveillance camera systems at the primary and secondary substations.
“These substations are monitored and protected on a 24-hour basis through the security service providers’ control centres, immediate deployment of armed response as and when required and placement of physical security guards to monitor and patrol hot spot areas,” said Gadebe.
There were plans to replace theft-prone copper conductor cables with aluminium conductor cables at hot spot cable routes.
Gadebe said there were also plans to install remote-controlled protective enclosures at miniature substations, kiosks and meter boxes to reduce incidents of earth and neutral conductors theft on the low-voltage and street light networks.
“The current methodology and technology installed have effectively eradicated theft and vandalism at primary and secondary substations equipped with entrance alarms with pepper spray technology, perimeter beams and surveillance camera systems. However, theft and vandalism of equipment outside the substations, such as underground cables and overhead lines, have increased in recent months,” he said.
The City of Johannesburg has also upped its fight against cable theft. Mfeka said City Power is fighting cable theft by having a response vehicle which patrols high-risk areas based on theft and vandalism statistics.
“City Power also conducts joint operations with SAPS on scrap metal dealers from time to time because that is where cable thieves sell stolen cables. City Power is installing aerial conductor cables (ABC) across the city of Johannesburg to prevent cables being stolen by cable thieves.
"Another reason is ABC cable is made of aluminium and is of no value to thieves. It is also not easy to cut as it has a steel core. City Power has also started replacing lattice pylons with monopoles. City Power has partnered with SAPS and JMPD to combat cable theft.
"We also engage the private security service providers and SAPS in hot spot areas not to focus on housebreaking and robbery crimes only but also to have an understanding of the impact of cable theft and vandalism on the electrical infrastructure,” said Mfeka.
Tshwane has also established a team within the metro police department to deal with cable theft.