SOEs join forces to fight scourge of infrastructure vandalism

A group of state-owned entities have joined forces to fight the scourge of infrastructure vandalism that has plagued the country.

The Economic Sabotage of Critical Infrastructure (ESCI) Forum, led by the Group CEOs of Eskom, PRASA, Telkom and Transnet hosted a high-profile roundtable with key stakeholders to find solutions and discuss progress in tackling the challenges of theft and vandalism of economic infrastructure.

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The ESCI says the economic toll, experienced across the country, has reached the point where drastic measures are required, from policy execution and coordination perspective.

Eskom

Eskom CEO André de Ruyter said electricity infrastructure is central to the country’s economy, growth and development, therefore every citizen, every business and the whole-of-state has a role to play in stopping the devastation, sabotage and destruction of critical infrastructure.

“Eskom is encouraged by the support it is receiving from the security and law enforcement agencies, including the commitment by the National Prosecuting Authority to commence the prosecution of the many serious crimes that have negatively affected Eskom.”

Telkom

Serame Taukobong, Telkom Group Chief Executive Officer said the country’s critical infrastructure is a platform for economic activities and catalyst for growth that needs to be always protected by all.

“Telkom Group is characterised by high levels of crimes of cable theft/sabotage, battery theft and vandalism of infrastructure. These crimes hamper the provision of basic essential services to industries and communities.”

Taukobong said the economic damage of copper theft alone has been estimated at more than R45 billion annually.

Prasa

Hishaam Emeran, Prasa Acting Group Chief Executive Officer said theft and vandalism of essential economic infrastructure have dealt Prasa and the country’s economy a heavy blow that cannot be quantified.

“We are confident that through the forum we can indeed turn the tide.”

Transnet

Portia Derby, Transnet Group Chief Executive said Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has experienced an exponential increase in incidents over the last five years, which has resulted in increased tonnage and revenue losses, and increased repair costs.

“Over 1500km of cable has been stolen (a 1 096% increase in the length of cable stolen) in the past five years, with a net financial impact of R4.1 billion.”

Since the establishment of the Forum in 2020, some progress has been realised that includes a specialised multidisciplinary unit to address economic sabotage, extortion at construction sites, and vandalism of infrastructure.

Cabinet also approved the public consultation process for proposals to restrict the trade of illegally obtained scrap and processed metals.

The forum has developed a progressive user-friendly app that aims to create awareness on the issue of economic sabotage of critical infrastructure whilst enabling impacted industry players to benefit from insights that are more current.

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