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The Democratic Alliance (DA) today announces its plan to deal with the ongoing copper theft crisis. Our representatives in parliament, in provincial legislatures and in city and town councils will advocate for these solutions to be implemented across the country.
Copper theft has reached an all time high. It is estimated that copper theft costs our economy R10 billion per year, hampering economic growth, productivity and job creation.
Nothing illustrates the extent of the problem better than the recent incidents of copper theft affecting the Gautrain. These incidents tell us that copper theft has become a highly coordinated and professional crime, with syndicates exporting stolen copper en masse.
The question is: What is going to be done about it?
This is the question we asked ourselves in the City of Cape Town when the DA was elected to office in 2006. In 2007, we established the “Copperheads” taskforce to tackle the problem head-on.
Pieter van Dalen was appointed as Chairperson of the Copperheads and tasked with building a specialised unit to combat the syndicates responsible for copper theft in Cape Town. The 12-person unit, through tip-offs from the public, as well as proactive intelligence-gathering, was mandated to find, catch and arrest copper thieves. The unit’s success rate speaks for itself:
• Between 200 and 300 people were arrested per year since the Copperheads’ inception.
• On average, about 50 council workers were arrested a year, indicating that in some instances, copper theft from municipal property is an inside job.
• In 2007, when the Copperheads were established, R22 million worth of copper and other metals were stolen. In 2009, that number had fallen to only R500 000.
• Theft of brass water meters was reduced from 1700 per month in 2007, to 10 per month in 2009.
There is no reason why this success cannot be replicated in Johannesburg and other metros. We will be pushing for a Copperheads unit to be established in Johannesburg and in other metros across the country.
The DA recognises that national government also has a crucial role to play in combating copper theft. At national level, the DA is putting forward five key proposals to stop copper theft:

• Implement 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: Presently, 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.
• 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 and that starts by taking the problem more seriously and being open to input from outside experts.
The City of Cape Town has shown that copper theft can be successfully tackled. If the right steps are taken, and if the key role players take the problem seriously enough, we can make a significant dent in copper theft across the country. We look forward to the response of national government and the various metro councils to our proposals.