Cable theft surge in Athlone

• Cable theft in the Athlone area continues to add to a considerable increase in incidents in the city.
• As one of several cable theft hotspots, the City of Cape Town has recorded a wave of cable theft, particularly of street lights.
• Copperheads have already recovered 1 700 kg of stolen metal in nine months between July and March this year.

Cable theft in the Athlone area continues to add to a considerable increase in incidents in the city.

As one of several cable theft hotspots, the City of Cape Town has recorded a wave of cable theft, particularly of street lights.

As People’s Post has previously reported, the City has seen a considerable increase in vandalism of infrastructure and illegal connections since 2020.

In a recent success, Copperheads officers received a complaint of cable theft in the Belgravia area in Athlone on Thursday 16 May. Officers were dispatched to the location provided but did not immediately notice anything suspicious. After waiting around the area, the plain-clothed officers blended in with the local community.

At 07:00, a group of about ten young men made their appearance from 7th Avenue and proceeded down Dunster Street. One of the suspects carried a black backpack which appeared to be very heavy.

This prompted the officers to stop the suspect.

Charged

They searched the bag and found a substantial amount of overhead cable inside the backpack. When asked to explain why he had the cable he claimed he was instructed by the group of men who he was walking with to carry the cable to be sold to an illegal scrap dealer in the area.

The weight of the overhead cable was about 80 kg with a street value of R15 000.

The suspect was arrested and booked at the Athlone Police Station where he was charged with possession of stolen property and in terms of the Criminal Amendment Act 18/2015.

According to Mayco member for energy Beverly van Reenen, by November, the City had spent around R83 million on replacing damaged, stolen and vandalised electricity infrastructure. This was close to R30 million more than in 2022 at R56 million which had also increased from R28 million in 2021, R14 million in 2020 and R20 million in 2019.

READ: Thieves strip Klipfontein corridor in Cape Town clean

While load shedding has been labelled as a contributor to the instances of cable theft, however, in the absence of this, cable theft continues.

Recently Mayor Geordin Hill Lewis joined the Copperheads on an operation in Mitchells Plain.

This is to understand the extent of their work in combatting the scourge of cable theft.

“Our message to metal thieves is simple: don’t steal cable, we will catch you,” he said at the time. The public can help us catch metal thieves by calling the City’s 24-hour toll-free tip-off line on 0800 110077. Rewards are on offer for information leading to arrests and convictions of metal thieves.”

Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith says the City is making resources available to solve this problem. “The confiscations are an indication that we are not dealing with just small operators. In fact, some suspects are being caught with considerable amounts of stolen goods, and that leads to bigger questions about the level of organisation involved, but also the continued vulnerability of critical infrastructure. The City is throwing many resources at this problem, but we can’t do it alone. Something has got to give at a national level, to tighten the screws on cable thieves, and take the shine out of the illicit scrap metal trade.”

• Residents are urged to report any suspicious activity to the City’s Public Emergency Communications Centre on 107 or 021 480 7700.