South African copper theft disaster

Copper cable thieves are becoming more sophisticated and extreme in their methods, making it increasingly difficult for authorities to crack down on the R2-billion-per-year crime.

However, South Africa could harness new technologies to arrest the cost of the losses it causes.

This is according to Professor Vally Padayachee, former executive manager of Eskom and director of City Power’s engineering operations.

Padayachee told Newzroom Afrika that cable thieves are venturing into the tunnels under Johannesburg’s roads that house many of City Power’s cables, which is extremely dangerous given the fire risk.

“You don’t want to be in a tunnel when stealing a cable. Whether it’s live or dead, it’s a massive risk because you are grinding, and those sparks can start a fire,” he said.

“Once it ignites, it’s like a massive blowtorch, which will kill you instantaneously.”

Padayachee explained that there has been an ongoing debate on how to deal with cable theft since his time at City Power, which spanned from 2001 until 2009.

The dilemma is whether to allocate resources to increasing security through boots on the ground or implement technology to prevent theft.

This would mean allocating guards to substations around the country or employing technology that notifies the energy distributor of vandalised infrastructure.

“What we tried to do, and we’re still doing it, is to implement more technology because you can’t practically deploy the manpower needed at all substations,” Padayachee said.

“This technology allows for faster electronic indication of where theft occurs, enabling us to respond and deploy people to deal with the problem.”

However, he notes that as South Africa improves at tackling crime, criminals become more sophisticated in their theft.

He hopes that the advent and increased usage of artificial intelligence can improve the technology that has already been employed to eradicate the issue.

While attempting to directly restrain the issue is one facet of cracking down on cable theft, Padayachee also said that the market for copper needs to be addressed.

“If the scrap market were cut off, it would arrest this problem,” he said.

“South Africa tried that two years ago when the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition placed a temporary prohibition on the export of copper, which worked reasonably well.”

The Gauteng government recently announced in its State of the Province Address that it has shut down 1,079 scrap yards for non-compliance and commissioned a 24-hour response team to tend to these crimes.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said that in addition to this, the province has also shut down 593 spare shops and 149 tyre shops found to be operating illegally.

The crimes also significantly contributed to the intense load-shedding that South African residents experienced in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Eskom said it is phasing out copper cables to address the theft issue.

“We are moving away from using copper because we have seen that it is quite in demand, so whenever we have any cable that has been stolen, we do not replace it with copper,” Eskom’s Gauteng spokesperson Amanda Qithi said in May 2024.

Cable theft also costs South Africa and its citizens billions annually.

Eskom previously estimated that the theft of cables, transformers, overhead lines, and conductors costs it around R2 billion every year.

However, this figure could be significantly higher.

According to data from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), the theft of copper cables, overhead lines, copper in conductors, and copper stored for later use costs Eskom between R5 billion and R7 billion per year.

Eskom also spends about R2 billion per year replacing the cables.

Cable also causes significant losses for South Africans in affected areas.

These losses are often of a much higher value than the copper being stolen, as power spikes caused by cable theft can damage appliances such as fridges, freezers, TVs, and washing machines.

A residential complex in Centurion, where a MyBroadband employee was residing, suffered an estimated combined loss of over R1 million in damages due to a power surge caused by the theft of copper cables valued at roughly R10,000.