Ndlambe and the district head of police have welcomed the arrest of four people in connection with the theft of electrical cable from a seawater extraction unit feeding reverse osmosis water plants serving coastal towns in the municipality. The arrests, made during a high-drama, complex joint operation with dogs, drones and undercover personnel, have been hailed as repeated theft of water infrastructure continues to hamper service delivery and drain the coffers of local governments countrywide.
A large dunefield near Diaz Cross, between Bushmans River Mouth and Boknes contains eight large wells. These are so-called ‘dead-water’ wells, because water in them has been filtered through sand and so is free of aquatic organisms. That water is pumped to reverse osmosis plants in Bushmans River Mouth and Boknes. The infrastructure has been repeatedly targeted for cable theft because of its isolated location.
South African Police Service spokesperson Captain Marius McCarthy said information recorded by SAPS officers was as follows:
- The manager responsible for the extraction wells contacted the Kenton Police Station on Thursday September 9 and reported that the power supply to the extraction plant had tripped that afternoon.
- Upon inspection, there was some cable that had been chopped and removed. “Allegedly there was nobody in the area at the time,” McCarthy said.
- The manager also reported that there was a large piece of much thicker cable dug up. He was concerned that the copper thieves would return for it.
- The Night Watch team, SAPS K9 and Hi Tec Security checked on the NAVIC ANPR cameras to see what vehicle was operating in the area. One suspect vehicle was monitored and flagged.
- Under the guidance of SAPS K9, Hi Tec Security Coastal deployed two security guards, camouflaged so they would be undetected, to report any movements after dark. SAPS K9 Night Watch and Hi Tec Coastal were put on high alert on standby.
- At 9.30pm the same day, the Hi Tec Coastal control room operations centre notified the reaction team that there was movement in the area. “SAPS K9 and Hi Tec Operations went in by foot, covering much ground. The Night Watch team deployed into [multiple] observation points for quick reaction closing off the area concerned.
- The Night Watch Eye in the Sky drone was launched. Within minutes, the drone picked up the first suspects and their vehicle. This was relayed to the team on the ground, and the first suspects were apprehended with some of the cable in their possession at their vehicle. Two other suspects were retrieving more chopped copper cables from the sand dunes behind Diaz Cross.
- This was relayed to the team on the ground. They waited in ambush for the suspects and upon them entering the bush foot path the team managed to capture one of the suspects. The other suspect bolted. A SAPS K9 officer was deployed and released. “Within a minute, the fourth suspect was convincingly detained successfully by K9 Unit.”
Four suspects were arrested, and one vehicle was confiscated since it was suspected to have been used in the commission of a crime, together with tools and equipment found in possession of the suspects.
Sarah Baartman District Commissioner Major General Zolani Xawuka had high praise for the joint operation.
”This was a fantastic collaboration of working synergy between SAPS K9, Hi Tec Security Operations, and the Night Watch,” Xawuka said.
The four men, aged between 30 and 44, appeared in the Kenton Periodical Court on Monday September 9. Talk of the Town has not yet received a response to a request for an update on the status of the matter, including whether the men were charged in terms of the Criminal Matters Amendment Act. The CMA Act which came into operation on June 1 2016. created a new dispensation for essential infrastructure-related offences, including specific bail and minimum sentencing requirements. At the time the Bill was proposed, in 2015, the loss to the economy was estimated at R5-R7 billion per year.
A January 2024 article by Corruption Watch http://bit.ly/3ZqbPoJ refers to ‘South Africa’s Illicit Copper Economy’ a research report released in December 2023 by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). The report reveals how copper theft has been allowed to proliferate “to the extent that the capacity and operations of state-owned entities and municipalities are severely threatened, and social and economic growth are all but crippled… The same organisation’s Strategic Organized Crime Risk Assessment report for South Africa, released in September 2022, concluded that the country’s infrastructure is at a tipping point, with copper theft identified as a contributing factor.”
The report highlighted 15 interconnected illicit markets which were, it said, driven by a complex and evolving criminal underground. These markets ranged from illegal firearms, wildlife crime, and kidnapping to illicit drugs, illegal mining, and organised corruption.
Corruption Watch also quotes documents from the National Infrastructure Plan 2050 suggesting that the total cost of copper theft nationally could exceed 1% of GDP annually, imposing an enormous financial burden on the taxpayers who largely foot the bill.
Ndlambe spokesperson TK Mtiki said the municipality welcomed the arrests.
“These acts of vandalism and theft come at a massive cost to the municipality and hinder service delivery,” Mtiki said. “It is communities who suffer.”
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, September 12, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.