Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith said today; “This week, we received the good news that a cable thief arrested by the City’s Metal Theft Unit two years ago, has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars. The arrest was made in Kraaifontein on 13 November 2023, where the then 55-year-old suspect was found with eight bags of Transnet cable, weighing more than 400 kilograms.”
On the day in question, the Law Enforcement Metal Theft Unit received information about stolen overhead cables being stored at a property in Wallacedene. They spotted a male leaving the property in a red Opel Astra and followed him. When they stopped the vehicle along Voortrekker Road, officers found the copper cable.
The suspect was taken to Kraaifontein SAPS and a representative from Transnet confirmed the cables belonged to them. The haul was estimated to have a street value of R558 000. He was prosecuted in terms of the Criminal Matters Amendment Act 18/2015, and sentenced in the Blue Downs Regional Court in April this year.
The 15-year sentence is one of the most significant handed down in a case that stemmed from a City arrest; although, to be fair, we do not always know how the story ends, as there is no mechanism that ensures feedback on investigations and convictions. Even in this instance, we came to hear about the matter more than two months after it concluded, but it is welcome news nonetheless and I commend everyone who had a hand in the successful conclusion of the case, starting with our Law Enforcement Officer who made the arrest.
Cable theft remains one of our biggest challenges, which is why the City has increased the size of the Metal Theft Unit (MTU) in recent years and expanded the use of technology like drones, infrared cameras and CCTV to broaden our reach.
Over the past 11 months, our MTU has made 126 arrests, recovered more than a kilometre of stolen cable and nearly two tons of stolen metal. Staff have completed 4 706 patrols in hotspot areas, 1 573 scrapyard compliance inspections, responded to 501 complaints from the public and issued 3 634 fines for various by-law transgressions.
The illicit scrap metal trade is arguably one of the biggest challenges. We need greater intervention at national level to take the shine out of the trade, and we need consistently strong signals from the criminal justice system that this type of criminal activity won’t be tolerated.
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