A parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation held public hearings last week to address vandalism and theft of water infrastructure in the country.

The committee heard the theft of copper cable, as well as pipes, pumps and other equipment, costs South Africa more than R5 billion a year.

Copper thieves are paid as little as R7 a kilogram for the metal by unscrupulous scrap metal dealers while the damage caused by stealing the cable amounts to millions of rands.

No support from the public

Committee Chairperson, Lulu Johnson, lamented the fact that there was little interest shown by the public in this critical matter.

Johnson encouraged stronger action against copper cable thieves but also against the scrap metal industry. He also urged communities to come forward when witnessing such crimes and not to stand by idly.

He said it was communities, schools, hospitals and the elderly that suffered due to vandalism and theft of such infrastructure. This was also a blow to the country’s economy.

Difficulty getting convictions

The South African Police Service indicated they had a difficult time in terms of getting convictions against copper thieves as they were in most cases unable to track the owners of the stolen goods.

They suggested that scrap metal dealers should institute electronic banking payments for such transactions which will make it easier for the police to trace suspects and difficult for thieves to sell stolen copper.

Declaring copper a precious metal

The committee suggested that declaring copper a precious metal might address the problem as penalties will be similar to those when suspects are found in possession of gold or diamonds.

Johnson indicated that the Committee will plan a surprise oversight visit to a scrap metal dealer. “It is not going to be business as usual for scrap metal companies.

” The Committee will also look at the work of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team on this matter in an effort to get solutions to the theft of copper cables.