‘Classify cable theft as sabotage’

A bakkie containg stolen copper cable was confiscated in an early morning raid on a scrap metal dealer near Riverlea ,Johannesburg ,The raid was part of a joint operation with JHB Metro police and City Power of Johannesburg. The Media were invited by 'City Power' of Johannesburg to accompany them on various raids throughout Johannesburg with the assistance of the Metro police. Certain residential properties had been identified in the theft of electricity by tapping into the existing grid. Picture: Antoine de Ras , 16/08/2011

A bakkie containg stolen copper cable was confiscated in an early morning raid on a scrap metal dealer near Riverlea ,Johannesburg ,The raid was part of a joint operation with JHB Metro police and City Power of Johannesburg. The Media were invited by 'City Power' of Johannesburg to accompany them on various raids throughout Johannesburg with the assistance of the Metro police. Certain residential properties had been identified in the theft of electricity by tapping into the existing grid. Picture: Antoine de Ras , 16/08/2011

Published Oct 7, 2014

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Johannesburg - Cable theft should be classified as sabotage, City of Joburg acting mayor Matshidiso Mfikoe said on Monday at the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities of Southern Africa’s annual conference at the Gallagher Convention Centre.

The City of Joburg was spending R10 million a year in replacing cables as a result of theft, but the judicial system was treating this as petty crime, she said.

The city has, in the past few months, experienced a sharp escalation of cable theft.

“This is seriously hampering the investment into, and the economic growth, of the city and we have to find ways to combat it. We don’t want to see businesses closing and jobs being lost as a result of this. We are managing to curb it to a certain extent, and we have had an 88 percent conviction rate, (but) this doesn’t deal effectively with the problem,” she said.

The main headache was in informal settlements so the city had decided to electrify the areas as quickly as possible, she said.

“This is not only costing ratepayers money, but it is causing devastation in communities. These criminals are now not only stealing cables, but infrastructure as well. We saw this when they dismantled an entire pylon in Lenasia earlier this year, which affected thousands of people who were without power for two weeks,” she said.

 

“How can we believe that not one person in the neighbouring community (saw) people dismantling a huge pylon? They turn a blind eye and this culture should be changed. I do understand some of these thieves are heavily armed, but they (community) need to come together on this.”

City Power, she said, was looking at alternative sources of materials which had no resale value.

“We are also engaging with the judiciary to make them take this crime seriously by showing them the vast devastation cable theft is having on the economy,” she said.

During a panel discussion, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry said there had been a dramatic decline in cable theft from Telkom, Eskom and Transnet.

Chief executive of the chamber, Naren Rau said the replacement figure was R49m two years ago, but had decreased to R12m a year.

The cost to the economy, however, could be up to R10bn a year.

Rau said while it was well known that stolen copper was being sent to China, because of trading agreements, that country could not be approached for assistance.

“We would be told that it is our problem,” he said.

Colonel Gerhard Pistorius of the SAPS said petty thieves stealing cables were the biggest problem.

“They are unpredictable, poor people, many drug addicts, so it is hard to know where they will strike next. We have a non-ferrous metal crime combating committee in place which targets the organised syndicates and have managed to curtail this to a certain extent,” he said.

New legislation on dealing with second-hand goods worked initially, but now thieves were bypassing dealers and were taking the stolen copper and metal to containers and exporting them directly, he said.

Rens Bindeman of the Southern African Revenue Protection Association agreed, saying another problem was that there were few border controls and checking of containers.

Andries Nel, Deputy Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, said a task team had been set up with various government departments.

“We view this very seriously and are looking at a number of proposals, including changing legislation to include copper in the precious metals act and making theft of electricity a crime,” he said.

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The Star

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