Call to investage scrap dealers
2007-05-03
A CALL for a judicial commission of inquiry into cable and copper theft was made last week at the Business meets the City symposium organised by the Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In making the call, Janine Myburgh, President of the Chamber, said that communication and commerce and industry were being sabotaged by this form of theft.
The scale of the problem could be understood from the fact that Wesgro listed “copper, copper alloy, waste or scrap” as the Western Cape’s second biggest export to China and it was worth about R77m a year. Another R12m was earned from aluminium “waste or scrap”.
“Those figures are a couple of years old and would be much higher today. And, of course, China is not the only export destination.
"Since we don’t have any copper or aluminium mines in this part of the country it is not difficult to guess where the metal comes from,” Ms Myburgh said.
Attempts to get to grips with the thieves and the dealers in stolen goods had had mixed results and a bigger and more determined effort was called for.
“We need a full judicial inquiry to investigate this industry. Perhaps when scrap metal dealers give evidence to a judge in open court we may get a better understanding of the dynamics of the industry and that could lead to more effective remedies.
“Certainly we cannot afford the disruptions from cable theft. Our electricity supply, trains and communications are being sabotaged by this form of crime and the Chamber would be willing to throw its weight behind the City, Eskom and Transnet in a bid to end this plague,” Myburgh said.
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