The victims

The impact of non-ferrous metal theft on Eskom, Spoornet, Telkom and the South African economy in general is enormous and it is impossible to determine the real cost to victims. The theft of non-ferrous materials harms us in many ways, for example:

• Replacement cost to repair infrastructure (materials and additional man hours).
• Transport costs when people must pay for other forms of transport because trains are delayed.
• Cost of equipment and vehicles.
• Cost of electronic equipment, alarms and monitoring.
• Extra costs to safeguard personnel and infrastructure, especially at night.
• Negative publicity for South Africa, which leads to the loss of existing and potential clients.
• The incalculable cost of human lives (for example when a train derails, or accidents due to traffic lights not working).
• Private and public business sectors need electricity and telephone lines to do their work, and the loss of these services impacts negatively on their productivity, planning and profit margins and price hikes which must be absorbed by law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.