Police minister Bheki Cele says the government is not just standing by and doing nothing amid unprecedented theft of copper cables and destruction of other valuable public infrastructure.
Cele says law-enforcement agencies are hard at work coming up with strategies to defeat the scourge and are working with SOEs such as Transnet, Eskom, Prasa and Telkom, which are hit the hardest by cable theft.
The minister was speaking in parliament during a debate on the economic impact of the theft and vandalism of public infrastructure, a discussion branded an “urgent matter of public national importance”.
Cele said: “Government has established specialised multidisciplinary units to address economic sabotage and other related crimes such as extortion on construction sites and vandalism of public infrastructure.
“Furthermore, there are active partnerships between the police in collaboration with key stakeholders from law enforcement in both the private and public sector. It is through such partnerships that tireless work is being done to deal decisively with theft of infrastructural metal and other essential infrastructure.
“The SAPS established multidisciplinary economic infrastructure task teams which are made up of different specialised units in partnership with private security. The mass collaboration work includes operational divisions within the police, namely crime intelligence, forensic directorate and border and rapid raid units,” he continued.
“Moreover, this includes the NPA, the International Trade and Administration Commission, the Financial Intelligence Centre and Sars. We are responding and, adding to the collaborative mix, are Transnet, Prasa, Eskom and Telkom,” Cele added.
The NFP’s Ahmed Shaik-Emam called for the state to be merciless against thieves who steal and vandalise public infrastructure.
For him, it was a “no-brainer that such criminals are also benefiting from the tax money when they obtain representation by Legal Aid once arrested.
“We must agree, all of us, that the destruction of public infrastructure cannot be tolerated. The figures are in the billions of rand lost annually, crippling the efforts of government and the progression of democracy and the economy,” said Shaik-Emam. “Theft and destruction of public infrastructure reportedly costs Eskom, Prasa, Transnet and Telkom alone about R7bn in direct losses.
“We need law-enforcement authorities to be able to deal with this timeously. This theft of cables, copper and scrap metal is conducted by people from within our communities. People are doing this because we live in a lawless state where people believe they will get away with it.
“The people who do get arrested use the Legal Aid that you and I fund through tax.”
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Bheki Cele says it’s all hands on deck in war against cable theft
Image: Sandile Ndlovu
Police minister Bheki Cele says the government is not just standing by and doing nothing amid unprecedented theft of copper cables and destruction of other valuable public infrastructure.
Cele says law-enforcement agencies are hard at work coming up with strategies to defeat the scourge and are working with SOEs such as Transnet, Eskom, Prasa and Telkom, which are hit the hardest by cable theft.
The minister was speaking in parliament during a debate on the economic impact of the theft and vandalism of public infrastructure, a discussion branded an “urgent matter of public national importance”.
Cele said: “Government has established specialised multidisciplinary units to address economic sabotage and other related crimes such as extortion on construction sites and vandalism of public infrastructure.
“Furthermore, there are active partnerships between the police in collaboration with key stakeholders from law enforcement in both the private and public sector. It is through such partnerships that tireless work is being done to deal decisively with theft of infrastructural metal and other essential infrastructure.
“The SAPS established multidisciplinary economic infrastructure task teams which are made up of different specialised units in partnership with private security. The mass collaboration work includes operational divisions within the police, namely crime intelligence, forensic directorate and border and rapid raid units,” he continued.
“Moreover, this includes the NPA, the International Trade and Administration Commission, the Financial Intelligence Centre and Sars. We are responding and, adding to the collaborative mix, are Transnet, Prasa, Eskom and Telkom,” Cele added.
The NFP’s Ahmed Shaik-Emam called for the state to be merciless against thieves who steal and vandalise public infrastructure.
For him, it was a “no-brainer that such criminals are also benefiting from the tax money when they obtain representation by Legal Aid once arrested.
“We must agree, all of us, that the destruction of public infrastructure cannot be tolerated. The figures are in the billions of rand lost annually, crippling the efforts of government and the progression of democracy and the economy,” said Shaik-Emam. “Theft and destruction of public infrastructure reportedly costs Eskom, Prasa, Transnet and Telkom alone about R7bn in direct losses.
“We need law-enforcement authorities to be able to deal with this timeously. This theft of cables, copper and scrap metal is conducted by people from within our communities. People are doing this because we live in a lawless state where people believe they will get away with it.
“The people who do get arrested use the Legal Aid that you and I fund through tax.”
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
READ MORE:
Hundreds jailed for many years for stealing copper, gold and diamonds
Copper cable worth R1.2m — mostly from City Power — recovered and two suspects arrested
Joburg City Power records 17 cable theft cases at weekend
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