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In reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question received this week, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba, confirmed that Eskom and Transnet continue to bleed millions of Rands as a result of copper cable theft.

I believe Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprise needs to have an urgent discussion on this topic. I will write to the Chairperson of the Committee, Peter Maluleka, to request that Minister Gigaba and representatives from Eskom and Transnet attend a committee hearing on copper theft. The DA has a host of proposals to solve the copper theft crisis that these officials need to consider.

The Parliamentary reply indicates that government is losing the war against copper theft.

From 2006/7 to December 2011, Eskom lost a total of R350.2 million as a result of copper theft. This includes losses, replacement costs and the cost of increased security measures. The costs incurred by Transnet between 2006/7 and January 2012 amounted to R856.71 million. This includes a sum of R80.9 million spent by Transnet on increased security costs in 2011/12 alone.

Since 2006, Eskom and Transnet have collectively lost R1.2 billion through copper cable theft. These numbers echo those released by Telkom, which indicated that the entity lost R1.9 billion in repair and replacement costs due to copper theft between 2006 and 2011.

Copper theft continues to be a highly coordinated and professional crime against which our public enterprises are failing to mount an effective defence. This morning, another instance of copper theft crippled train services on the Leralla-Tembisa line in the East Rand – just three days after the copper was replaced following a previous instance of copper theft on the same line.

In contrast to Transnet, Eskom and Telkom, the DA has had great success in curbing copper theft through the “Copperheads” taskforce established in 2007 in Cape Town. Since its inception, this taskforce has arrested between 200 and 300 people a year and has brought about significant reductions in financial losses resulting from copper theft.

There is no reason why this success cannot be replicated by the public enterprises.

The lesson we have learnt is that specialist, in-house copper theft prevention units work. Eskom’s losses are much lower that Transnet’s specifically because Eskom has an in-house copper theft prevention unit.

But national government also needs to do more to prevent copper theft.

At a national level, the DA has put forward a five-step plan to solve South Africa’s copper theft crisis. The proposed steps include:

Implementing the Second Hand Goods Law of 2009: This law was passed in 2009 and creates a solid framework for law enforcement to pursue and persecute copper thieves. The law has still not been implemented. Once implemented, it will make it much easier to police copper theft.
Making copper theft a priority crime at the SAPS: This will secure more resources and more experienced personnel for the fight against copper theft, as well as placing more responsibility on SAPS to investigate and resolve copper theft cases.
Giving copper theft its own crime code at the SAPS: At present, the SAPS crime database records copper theft in the category “other crimes”. This means that there are no reliable statistics of the incidence of copper theft, hampering the development of a sophisticated strategy to combat copper theft. We therefore propose that copper theft be given its own crime code so that it can be recorded separately.
Setting copper theft reduction targets at parastatals: The Public Enterprises Minister should set targets to reduce copper theft at each major parastatal, accompanied by a comprehensive strategic plan to meet these targets. Given the figures indicated above, it is clear that parastatals require targeted interventions to address copper theft.
Close cooperation with industry experts: There exists a reservoir of goodwill from security and copper theft experts to help municipalities and parastatals to improve their security operations. This knowledge should be used more effectively.

Copper theft hampers the service delivery of our public enterprises and halts economic growth through its impact on the availability of transport and communications infrastructure. This means slower economic growth and fewer jobs for our people. The time has come to take serious action to put a stop to copper theft.