These photos show the massive damage caused by cable thieves in SA

[LazyLion]

I only see some loose cabling, a missing door and a dead tree. No massive damage. With cable theft the real damage can't be seen after the theft.

You are forgetting the 16 businesses not operating for two business days and the resulting damage to electronic equipment due to surges, etc.

 

[Swa]

You are forgetting the 16 businesses not operating for two business days and the resulting damage to electronic equipment due to surges, etc.

They don't show photos of those.

 

[LazyLion]

They don't show photos of those.

Mentioned in the article...

 

[Electron1]

I only see some loose cabling, a missing door and a dead tree. No massive damage. With cable theft the real damage can't be seen after the theft.

There were 2 heavy steel doors securing the substation that were stolen, as well as the cable theft. Hard to tell what was stolen without "before" photos. I believe this is the 4th cable theft from that substation this year.

As of yesterday afternoon the businesses fed by that sub were still down.
Pity the thieves didn't electrocute themselves in the process of stealing the cables.

 

[LazyLion]

Power still down. Going on third day now. But they say it will be just an hour or two.

 

[Electron1]

I have just heard that apparently the thieves were back at 5am today at the Fawcus street sub and were arrested.
I really hope that is true. And yes 3rd day without power for the associated businesses.

 

[LazyLion]

I have just heard that apparently the thieves were back at 5am today at the Fawcus street sub and were arrested.
I really hope that is true. And yes 3rd day without power for the associated businesses.

Hadn't heard that.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Like making drug illegal worked!!

The problem is that these people don't care what the law says, other wise they wouldn't steal in the first place

You cannot compare the two. Banning dealing in "scrap" copper, will put all the pressure squarely on the scrap yards, forcing them to either stop buying scrap copper OR becoming criminals themselves.

 

[konfab]

The industry as it stands is doing more harm than good. R5 bn a year direct cost, excluding the knock on costs such as not having electricity.

I would say the whole concept is shady from the start as it is very difficult to establish ownership. So rather just operate the industry as an extension of the waste management duties of municipalities and use it as an additional source of revenue for service delivery (assuming the municipality isn't paying ghost salaries or whatnot). That means that you do not get paid for scrap, no matter how much you bring in. That asymptotically increases the risk for these people to steal it, as well as hopefully improving their lives so they don't need to.

 

[bullzeye.za]

Another "Massive" headline...

That is two for today and counting.

At least it's not another "revealed" or "uncovered"

 

[Sonic2k]

At least it's not another "revealed" or "uncovered"

Or a title purporting Seagate hard drives have a vuln, when in actual fact the article is about certain Seagate Wifi based storage systems, NOT the actual hard disks.

 

[LazyLion]

Power is finally back on.

But we've lost a lot of equipment.

It might have been zorched when the cables were stolen, but the idiot contractors that City Power hired decided to switch things on piecemeal instead of all at once, so we had fluctuating power supply for a few hours.

 

[Sonic2k]

Power is finally back on.

But we've lost a lot of equipment.

It might have been zorched when the cables were stolen, but the idiot contractors that City Power hired decided to switch things on piecemeal instead of all at once, so we had fluctuating power supply for a few hours.

My condolences.

And yes, they love doing it piecemeal... that is because the equipment is totally shot and turning it all on, causes too much inrush current potentially blowing the transformer I guess.

 

[kianm]

Thought i was going to see pic from multiple different locations. Bad enough though

 

[AstroTurf]

Make trading in "scrap copper" illegal. Job done.

Make the export of scrap copper illegal...

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search...n&CatId=&SearchText=scrap+copper+south+africa

 

[Electron1]

I was there late morning to sort out an ADSL router that had lost settings due to this. And as luck would have it power was switched off again as City Power were resolving an issue with one of the phases. Had a look at outside of the Substation - one gate still missing, although doors on the sub were replaced.

LazyLion, I had no idea this is your den during the day.