Non-Ferrous Metal Theft brings cities to their knees

By Kotie Geldenhuys Photos provided by Paul Smit from Nelson Mandela Bay Metro

Non-ferrous metal theft has become a serious problem and harms many people directly and indirectly. Although the problem with regard to the theft of non-ferrous metals, specifically copper and aluminium, has existed for many years, it has since 1993 escalated to unprecedented levels and annual losses run into billions of rands.

The theft of non-ferrous metals brings cities to their knees as it causes extensive blackouts and power cuts. Organised gangs plunder kilometres of the country's electricity and telephone lines to sell as scrap, and it seems that they are not going to give up their lucrative business any time soon. Copper and aluminium are stolen from overhead lines, substations, signal cables, underground cables, transformers and from railway carriages (basins, bearings, taps, window frames etc). Spoornet faces the challenge of securing some 23 000 km of rail track with limited security resources.