There were 299 convictions on cases of cable theft across the country in the past financial year.
This as power utility Eskom warns that incidents of cable theft and vandalism of its infrastructure are on the rise in Gauteng.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) 2022/2023 annual report, the convictions were from 347 cases in the year under review.
“The NPA continued with the successful prosecution of cable theft matters, already significantly exceeding the five-year medium-term strategic framework target of 80%.
“During the 2022/23 financial year, a high conviction rate of 86.2% was obtained by achieving 299 convictions from 347 verdict cases. But here as well, cases involving kingpins remain elusive. And unless they are prosecuted, we will not address this major problem,” wrote national director of public prosecutions Adv Shamila Batohi in the report.
According to the report, Eastern Cape had nine convictions out of 10 cases, Free State had 26 out of 32 while Gauteng, Pretoria and Johannesburg, respectively saw 59 cases get convictions out of 75 and 107 out of 118 cases.
KwaZulu-Natal got 12 convictions out of 16 cases while Mpumalanga sat at 25 out of 27. Northern cape had a 100% conviction rate from seven cases while North West had 20 convictions out of 21 cases. Western Cape had 34 out of 41 cases. There were no cases in Limpopo.
Eskom Gauteng spokesperson Tumi Mashishi said: “These criminal acts result in the loss of revenue and increased replacement costs for the power utility. Theft and vandalism of electricity equipment leave customers without electricity supply for prolonged periods, inconveniencing law-abiding, paying customers and community service points such as healthcare and education facilities, businesses and the economy at large.”
In the 2021/2022 annual report, the NPA stated that “damage to and tampering with essential infrastructure results in major service delivery interruptions as well as negatively impacting on the economy”.
“Essential infrastructure crimes include, but are not limited to, the theft of fuel from pipelines, theft of transformers and batteries from cellular towers, and the theft of cables and equipment from railways and power stations.
“With a conviction rate of 87.9%, most accused convicted of essential infrastructure crimes were sentenced to direct imprisonment. Cable theft is highly organised and has a significantly negative impact on businesses, communities and the economy. It is estimated that cable theft costs the South African economy between R5bn and R7bn a year. The NPA obtained 193 convictions from 210 verdict cases, recording a 91.9% conviction rate in cable theft matters,” the report reads in part.
In one of the recent incidents, Mashishi said power supply was affected in Drumblade and Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, following an extended outage caused by cable theft and vandalism at the Goldview substation on July 26.
He said in another incident, the power utility reported the theft of oil from the transformer of its Randburg substation, while the residents of Buccleuch and Waterfall in Johannesburg were left without supply for five days due to theft and vandalism of the electricity equipment not long ago.
Eskom Gauteng maintenance and operations senior manager Mashangu Xivambu said: “We have put controls in place to enhance the existing measures to try and eliminate and guard against theft and vandalism of our infrastructure as it affects the livelihoods of our customers.
“The power utility conducts risk assessments to classify and identify hot spot areas and place static guards strategically at these sites. Armed response patrols are also conducted at interval periods along the identified routes and critical infrastructure sites.
“Eskom cannot win this fight alone, we partner and collaborate with community members, community security companies, business forums, community policing forums, SAPS and Pops to try and reduce theft and vandalism of the electricity infrastructure. We appeal to those communities who are not yet on board to join forces with us in the battle against this scourge that is affecting all of us.”
Eskom has encouraged the public to report suspicious activities anonymously to the Eskom Crime Line on 0800112722 (toll-free) or go to the nearest police station.
mashalek@sowetan.co.za
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