Page 3 - EngineerIT June 2022

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

Copper theft: the never-ending story

remember dealing with copper theft and its prevention campaign The sad part of the story is that the
in my days as head of corporate communication at Telkom in people who are caught are the small guys
w
K
I aZulu-Natal. We formed a copper theft alliance with several role who often steel copper to put bread on
players including the railways, Eskom and the SAP in the province. the family table. It is the copper-garchs
who need to be caught and prosecuted.
Cable theft had taken on such proportions that at one stage, as Government must act and get suitable
technicians were putting in new cables, they were stolen from legislation in place, sooner rather than
the other side. We tried alarms on the cables, welding down the later!
manhole covers, even cementing the trench for 100 metres or so, but
all to no avail. On a happier note, face to face conferences
and exhibitions are back and judging
The times we were lucky enough to catch the thieves red-handed from the past few major events, they are
with the stolen cables, our excitement was short lived. The criminals being well supported by vendors and their
were apprehended and charged, but in court the magistrate would customers or would-be customers. Yes,
ask a simple question: “Can you prove that these cables belong to there are still some restrictions such as
Telkom or Eskom?” We could not, as the copper wire is not marked. social distancing and the number of people
In many cases the insulation was already burned off. We would who may attend an event. Mask-wearing
argue: But Your Honour, only Telkom uses this type of cable. Case at indoor events is still compulsory. Most
dismissed! organisers are opting for the number of
people rather than the 50% venue capacity
Needless to say, it soon killed the moral of the people who patrolled rule, which requires the presentation of
the main cable routes and often put their lives in danger. a vaccination certificate or a recent, clear
Covid 19 test. I noted with interest that at
We arranged community events to explain the importance of having Securex, which I attended recently, masks
working telephones and in particular public phones, and explained were available at the door and no-one was
that the cost of cable theft impeded the roll-out of more telephones allowed in without a mask covering mouth
in rural areas. and nose.

Fast forward some 20 or more years, and the situation has not Personally, I don’t have an issue with
changed. In fact, the impact of copper cable theft has increased. wearing a mask, but if you were at Securex
Indiscriminate stealing of power cables puts substations at risk and is and I did not recognise you, my apologies -
often the cause of explosions and burning down. I did not mean to ignore you. Just turn your
lanyard around so I can read your name!
How do we take control of the situation, where and when is it all
going to end? Various people have made proposals, many of which Enjoy this edition of EngineerIT.
we made 20 years ago too. Stop scrap yards paying cash for copper
walk-ins. Allow copper only to be traded by licensed scrap yards Regards
or even legislate copper as a strategic, non-tradeable commodity. Hans van de Groenendaal
Charge copper thieves with sabotage. Hansv@nowmedia.co.za, 082 781 4631

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