Driver of bakkie loaded with stolen railway tracks arrested

The Boksburg police arrested a man recently who, along with six others, was found stealing railway tracks in Kanana informal settlement near the Angelo Railway Station.

According to Boksburg SAPS spokesperson Sgt Ntsako Ledwaba, the team, led by WO Sekete, and consisting of community patrollers from the informal settlement and Comet, descended on the area after noticing suspicious activity around a section of the PRASA railway line.

“Upon arrival, they noticed the men tampering with essential infrastructure. The team pounced on the suspects as they were leaving with six pieces of railway track. It was cut into lengths of about six metres each, which were being loaded onto a bakkie.
“Only one suspect, the driver, was nabbed. His six accomplices fled and disappeared into nearby bushes.”

The loot and the vehicle used in the crime were confiscated.

It’s believed that the bakkie loaded with the railway tracks was heading to a local scrap metal dealer. The value of the stolen pieces of railway line found in the bakkie is estimated at R40 000.

According to WO Jonas Sekete, the suspect appeared in court for tampering with essential infrastructure and was remanded in custody for further investigation.

He described the case as a serious offence that carries a severe penalty upon conviction.

Police are now hunting the remaining suspects, described as Mozambican nationals.
It’s believed that they are among the gangs of thieves who have crippled the railway line and the City’s energy infrastructure.

The Boksburg police said they will intensify intelligence-driven raids in their policing precinct, aimed at catching cable thieves and recovering stolen infrastructure from the syndicates as well as unscrupulous scrap metal dealers who are profiting from the destruction of public infrastructure.

Tighter laws against scrap metal dealers
The PRASA railway system across the country has faced severe degradation related to the theft and vandalism of railway stations, tracks, copper cables and substations.

Such criminal activities have caused severe disruptions to rail operations, leaving thousands of commuters without the use of trains and costing both the rail utility and its customers millions of rand in lost revenues.

There have been calls for a total ban on the trade of scrap metal or tighter laws against scrap metal dealers buying stolen infrastructure.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula reportedly classified these illegal activities as sabotage to the country’s economy.
In a recent tweet, Mbalula said PRASA has suffered severe loss of critical infrastructure, which includes but is not limited to cables, signals and overhead lines.

The tweet read: “This criminality is not against PRASA but South Africans as a whole. It disrupts the movement of people, goods and costs the South African economy.”

PRASA has suffered severe loss of critical infrastructure, which includes but is not limited to cables, signals, overhead lines. This criminality is not against PRASA but South Africans as whole. It disrupts the movement of people, goods and costs the South African economy. pic.twitter.com/SyXSq2Dh0Q

— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) January 31, 2022

He said it is estimated the economy is losing billions of rands due to the widespread cable theft in the country, and called for tightened laws against scrap metal dealers buying stolen infrastructure materials or a ban on the trade of scrap metal.

The minister called upon the public to join the government in fighting what he described as ‘brazen criminality’ around the destruction of critical infrastructure and stealing of cables.

We call upon the members of the public to join efforts with government to fight this brazen criminality around destruction of critical infrastructure and stealing of cables. pic.twitter.com/0UM1DNm1iu

— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) January 31, 2022

DA task team
The DA has announced that its leadership has established a task team to combat the industrial-scale theft of public infrastructure that is widespread across South African cities and towns.

In a press statement, issued by the party on May 9, Mat Cuthbert MP and spokesperson for the DA Task Team, said in a joint statement released in July last year that Telkom, Eskom, PRASA and Transnet revealed that the persistent challenge of cable theft and infrastructure vandalism was led to a combined loss of R7-billion every year, with an R187-billion knock-on effect on the economy per annum.

“This is a result of the failure of the national government to address this crisis in a meaningful way. Furthermore, this impacts the ability of local governments to deliver electricity and other basic services,” said Cuthbert.

The task team comprises shadow ministries of police, public enterprises, trade, industry, competition and transport, as well as executives in the municipalities where the party governs.“Together, we have developed a set of local, provincial and national interventions we know can help deal with the crisis at hand.”

Proposed national interventions are:
• Proper implementation of the Second Hand Goods Law of 2009.
• Giving copper theft its own criminal code and making the theft of it a priority crime at the SAPS.
• Creating a Specialised SAPS Unit.
• Setting copper theft reduction targets at parastatals.
• Close cooperation between law enforcement and metal recyclers to assist in the tracking of illicitly-traded metals.
• Empowering the Non-Ferrous Theft Combatting Committee through legislation and its dedicated budget.
• Establishing a reward hotline.
• Eradicating the backlog of scrap dealer licences.
• Multi-agency cooperation and information sharing.
• Standardised transaction recording of scrap metal sales.

Each of the relevant shadow ministers will be writing to their ministers to request that they undertake a costing exercise to determine how much funds they can allocate to the proposed set of interventions (within the scope of their department).

Proposed provincial interventions:
• Provinces map out public infrastructure vandalism hotspot areas to assist law enforcement agencies with the allocation of security personnel to protect these areas;
• Provinces develop anti-vandalism infrastructure plans to coordinate their response to the challenge.

Proposed local interventions:
• Set up specialised units within metro and town law enforcement authorities.
• Ensure that indelible markings are placed on all electrical infrastructure.
• Install anti-theft bolts and fasteners on the infrastructure where possible.
• Investigate the use of alternative metals to replace the use of copper.
• Create information-sharing networks between local law enforcement and metal recyclers.
• Install alarm systems on infrastructure that is linked to local law enforcement authorities.
• That electrical and infrastructure departments budget for the necessary security to patrol sites such as substations.

The party said it would request its local governments to formally adopt these interventions through relevant council processes and include them in their budgetary considerations, which are underway.

“In addition, we will be writing to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, to request that this matter be urgently debated.
“Government cannot sit idly by while our country’s infrastructure is being stripped and pillaged.”

Also Read: Two more suspects arrested over Boksburg cable theft

Also Read: Transnet suffers due to vandalism, theft at railway stations