Pretoria - With cable theft estimated by the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry to cost the local economy between R5 billion and R7bn annually, the 10-year sentence meted out against three perpetrators in Pretoria this week has been welcomed.
City of Tshwane MMC for Community Safety, Grandi Theunissen, says that the heavy prison sentences imposed on three cable thieves by the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court would serve as further motivation for the anti-cable theft police team officers.
Cable theft, which is a form of organised crime syndicates, has in many instances led to power outages at homes and businesses, affected traffic lights, networks and telephone lines.
In 2018 the then mayor Solly Msimanga said in Tshwane cable theft syndicates cost the metro a whopping R200 million a year.
The City has a dedicated cable theft unit set up within the Tshwane Metro Police Department for fighting the scourge.
Theunissen said: “The direct imprisonment of the criminals should also serve as motivation to our anti-cable theft teams who are working hard to stop the scourge of cable theft.”
He said cable theft was a serious crime often leading to service disruptions, such as electricity supply outages, and it also affected the City’s already stretched budget, as millions of rand was required to replace stolen cables.
The three criminals sentenced this week were Zimbabwean nationals and were each sentenced to ten years in prison.
Half of their sentence was suspended by the court, meaning they would each serve five years for possession of copper cables and tampering with essential infrastructure.
The three convicts were initially arrested in March 2022 and detained at the Villieria SAPS after they were found with stolen cables.
Theunissen said: “As MMC for Community Safety, I would like to commend the continuous efforts by law enforcement officials, particularly our Tshwane Metro Police Department cable theft unit, and others to protect the City’s critical infrastructure.
“It is encouraging to see our courts handing appropriate direct imprisonment sentences for cable theft. Such sentences send a stern warning to criminals that there are serious consequences to cable theft.”
The City encouraged the public to report cable theft and tampering with municipal electrical infrastructure to the cable theft unit hotline on 012 358 1550.
The public can alternatively visit a cable theft walk-in service centre in Gezina at the SANAB Building on the corner of Frederika and Johan Heyns Street.
Pretoria News