Police must stop cable thieves

In January at least 170 incidents of cable theft were reported in the City of Johannesburg. At least 206 incidents were reported the month before with officials at the time estimating that R14,4m worth of cables had already been stolen in the financial year.

SA is estimated to lose R5bn a year due to copper theft. Aside from dilapidated infrastructure, it is the single biggest reason for persistent blackouts in cities and towns. 

Its severity is also what prompted calls for legislation to be amended to define cable theft as a crime of economic sabotage – carrying much heavier sentences. 

What is increasingly becoming evident is the brutality and in some cases, the sadistic nature of the attacks on those who guard infrastructure. Yesterday we reported on two attacks on security guards at a substation in the Emfuleni municipality in the Vaal. 

Last Wednesday four security guards manning the substation were ambushed by a large group of men who assaulted them, forced them to strip naked, and then made them to dig up copper cables. Two days later, an armed reaction team was brought to reinforce security, only to have two of their members shot and killed.

The picture of the status quo painted by the Emfuleni municipality administrator Gilberto Martins is dreadful. 

“We have security guards stationed at all of our assets because there are groups of AK47-wielding criminals who steal our assets, including copper cables but this is the first time that an incident got so extreme,” Martins said.  “The affect of this sort of criminal activity costs the municipality millions because of interruptions to basic service delivery. It affects sewage plants, businesses and households.”  

While there have been some arrests and convictions of those involved in these crimes, it is clearly not enough.

Our public infrastructure remains easy prey to thugs who are clearly prepared to do anything to make a quick buck.

So what is our law enforcement, in all its spheres, doing to push them back?

We need significant crime intelligence interventions to crack the organised syndicates behind this grand theft. We need more boots on the ground who are well capacitated with the necessary tools, including the latest technologies. 

This theft is not by petty criminals trying their luck. It is the work of major criminal groupings whose networks – and pockets run deep and wide.

It must therefore be dealt with as such.

At the moment, our law enforcement appears to be losing the battle and we as citizens are paying the highest price.