Cape Town - It may be one of the most lucrative operations in South Africa, but it is illegal, as cable thieves working within Johannesburg’s power utility recently learned.
City Power said on Tuesday that it had suspended five employees for the theft of drums of cable worth R4.5m at the Randburg depot in Johannesburg. Each of the cable drums stolen carries cable that is 300 metres long.
Cable theft in South Africa is a big industry.
There were 58 011 major cable thefts last year at a cost to the economy of over R10bn, but only 374 scrap dealer personnel had been convicted for their involvement since May 2012. This resulted in SAPS national commissioner Riah Phiyega to order a national “project plan” to be drafted in July, according to The Witness.
Audit identified suspects
The arrest of the three electricians and two team leaders followed a thorough audit and inventory of cable equipment, City Power told Fin24. The suspects will be charged with fraud and theft.
The utility embarked on this exercise after it detected some discrepancies in its inventory.
City Power MD Sicelo Xulu said in a statement investigations were under way to determine whether the employees had links with organised crime syndicates. He said more arrests would be expected as the investigations continued.
The employees had authority to leave the premises with cable, which was how the utility was able to audit them.
Anti-corruption drive
“These arrests are part of our anti-corruption drive that seeks to rid the utility of criminal elements,” he said. “This year we have seen a significant spike in cable theft and corrupt practices, and in some of these incidents our contractors and employees were implicated.
"We are working with external parties to also tighten up our internal controls in order to enhance operational efficiencies. This entails tighten up our internal processes to close the loopholes and address existing weaknesses in the system.”
The theft of cables and vandalism of electricity equipment plunged many neighbourhoods in darkness earlier this year and cost the utility and businesses millions of rands, said Xulu.
He added that the utility is encouraged by the success City Power had achieved, but more work still needed to be done to make cable theft a thing of the past.
227 suspects arrested
Since City Power embarked on their anti-corruption and anti-cable theft drive, about 227 suspects had been arrested and the conviction rate stood at about 86%.
“City Power cannot win this battle alone without the support of its employees, contractors and communities it serves,” he said.
“We urge and encourage our stakeholders to continue to work with us in order to deal a decisive blow to this scourge of cable theft and corruption.
"The vandalism of electricity infrastructure and theft of electricity is not a crime against City Power alone, but it is an offense against all the law abiding citizens and ratepayers in Johannesburg.”