Editorial | Cable theft: A sustained campaign of raids on scrap dealers is needed to ensure the illegal buying of cables is stopped. Hefty prison sentences should be mandatory
Besides load shedding, over which we have very little control, power outages from cable theft destroy economic growth and make communities vulnerable to crime.
This is not a municipal problem. It is a national crisis and demands a national response. It is patently obvious that these are sophisticated syndicates targeting the copper cables. The copper is then smuggled out of the country or sold to scrap dealers. Where is government regulation and policing of these buyers? A sustained campaign of raids on scrap dealers is needed to ensure the illegal buying of cables is stopped. Hefty prison sentences should be mandatory.Where is our crime intelligence? Where are our police? Why has the army not been deployed? It appears as if there is little to no coherent strategy, let alone political will, to combat this scourge.