“The barometer will measure and monitor the extent of copper cable theft in the country on a monthly basis [to raise] the general awareness of the crime,” said Peggy Drodskie, executive advisor to the Sacci CEO, in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
“The theft of copper is an important issue that does not bode well for the future of South Africa,” she said.<\/p>\n
The R5 billion cost only included the replacement value. It did not take into account security or labour costs, said Drodskie.<\/p>\n
It also negatively impacted the economy through loss of productivity, negative investor perceptions and poor service delivery, among others.<\/p>\n
“If you don’t have a telephone, computers, your staff can’t operate optimally,” Drodskie said. This could even lead to the closure of small businesses.<\/p>\n
The barometer would reflect the experiences of Transnet, Telkom and Eskom, and would examine the previous six months preceding the release.<\/p>\n
The first barometer found the average loss a month between April 2009 and October 2010 was R22.3 million.<\/p>\n
Losses peaked in November 2009 at R46.42 million and March this year at R47.2 million.<\/p>\n
“The trend generally is upwards… worryingly. We’re looking at the reason for the troughs and peaks.”<\/p>\n
She said copper theft seemed to be driven by syndicates and appeared to be linked to the international copper price. Sacci would be investigating this further.<\/p>\n
November 2010 saw a substantial improvement year-on-year compared to November 2009, with a 60 percent reduction in replacement cost.<\/p>\n
“In recent months, replacement cost levels remained volatile, but at substantially lower levels than experienced earlier in 2010.<\/p>\n
“The November level of R18 million is less than a third of the March 2010 peak.”<\/p>\n