Warwick Bruce Chapman

5 September, 2011
Statement issued by Warwick Chapman, DA Spokesperson Housing and Infrastructure

Answers provided at today’s full council meeting reveal that asset losses as a result of cable theft in eThekwini over the past five years amount to nearly R100m. This figure does not take into account the losses to consumers caused by the resulting outage or power surge.

It is estimated that copper theft costs our economy R10 billion per year, hampering economic growth, productivity and job creation.

In a press statement released by the municipality in May this year, spokesperson Thabo Mofokeng said, “…the theft of cables, electrical conductors and transformers from the eThekwini Electricity network has resulted in significant losses to the Municipality. This not only places a burden on the City’s financial resources but also on its valuable customers that are severely inconvenienced by the supply interruptions arising out of the theft.”

Mr Mofokeng goes on to state that, “there are approximately 130 registered scrap metal dealers and 300 “bucket shop” type dealers in the eThekwini region. This poses enormous pressure on authorities in terms of regular compliance monitoring.”

This growing cable-theft trend threatens the very infrastructure of the City, causing serious damage to electrical substations and necessitating repairs running into millions of rand.

In the 2007/8 financial year cable theft losses for eThekwini were reported by the then Minister for Local Government to be R36-million. In the City of Cape Town over the same period, cable theft losses were recoprted at R496 800. Just a year earlier, in the 2006/7 financial year, cable theft losses in the City of Cape Town were recorded at R22-million.

This represents a 44-fold decrease in losses for the City of Cape Town from one financial year to the next.

What could possible explain such a dramatic decline in just one year? The answer is simply that the Cape Town council took a policy decision not to tolerate cable theft any longer and to invest in combating the crime. During that financial year, Cape Town established the Metals Theft Unit or “Copperheads” as a specialised unit of the Cape Town Metro Police to combat the theft of copper and other metals in the City

The 12-person unit, through tip-offs from the public, as well as proactive intelligence-gathering, was mandated to find, catch and arrest copper thieves. The unit’s success rate speaks for itself:

• Between 200 and 300 people were arrested per year since the Copperheads’ inception.
• On average, about 50 council workers were arrested a year, indicating that in some instances, copper theft from municipal property is an inside job.
• In 2007, when the Copperheads were established, R22 million worth of copper and other metals were stolen. In 2009, that number had fallen to only R500 000.
• Theft of brass water meters was reduced from 1700 per month in 2007, to 10 per month in 2009.

There is no reason why this success cannot be replicated in eThekwini and other metros.

Answers provided today about eThekwini’s own attempt to combat cable theft indicate that the unit established in 2009 has a R29m budget, six staff and has been unable to attract the investigators required to fill the vacant posts in the unit.

Further answers confirmed that there have been no convictions of scrap metal dealers in eThekwini since the unit was established.

National government also has a crucial role to play in combating copper theft. At national level, the DA is putting forward five key proposals to stop copper theft:

• Implement the Second Hand Goods Law of 2009: This law was passed in 2009 and creates a solid framework for law enforcement to pursue and persecute copper thieves. The law has still not been implemented. Once implemented, it will make it much easier to police copper theft.

• Making copper theft a priority crime at the SAPS: This will secure more resources and more experienced personnel for the fight against copper theft, as well as placing more responsibility on SAPS to investigate and resolve copper theft cases.

• Giving copper theft its own crime code at the SAPS: Presently, the SAPS crime database records copper theft in the category “other crimes”. This means that there are no reliable statistics of the incidence of copper theft, hampering the development of a sophisticated strategy to combat copper theft. We therefore propose that copper theft be given its own crime code so that it can be recorded separately.

• Setting copper theft reduction targets at parastatals: The Public Enterprises Minister should set targets to reduce copper theft at each major parastatal, accompanied by a comprehensive strategic plan to meet these targets.

• Close cooperation with industry experts: There exists a reservoir of goodwill from security and copper theft experts to help municipalities and parastatals to improve their security operations. This knowledge should be used more effectively and that starts by taking the problem more seriously and being open to input from outside experts.

We should not forget that copper theft has a direct effect on the lives of our people. Copper stolen from electricity cables disconnects our communities, especially poorer communities. The City then has to spend additional resources replacing infrastructure, money which could be spent rolling out even more services to the poor.

Our experience in Cape Town shows us that a metro police service, when properly trained and led by the right people and given the tools to do its job, can act as a powerful tool in the fight against crime.

In my opinion, even if it costs us R30million per year to prevent R30million of cable theft, the measures are still worthwhile as they reduce loss of productivity and costly damage to equipment caused by the outages and surges which result from cable theft. Cable theft can be combated by this municipality, all we need is the political will to do it properly.

Please report suspicious activities relating to cable theft to 031 311 9611.

Media Queries
Warwick Chapman
083 7797 094
warwickc@da.org.za

In March 2010, a year and a half ago, Cllr Tex Collins and I were assured that the last major technical hurdle in the completion of the new Revenue Management System was the data migration from the old Coins system to the new LOGOsoft RMS system. We were at the time advised that this process was almost complete, and they indeed demonstrated by pulling my Metro Bill. We were assured that the next challenges related only to testing, training and rollout preparation.

Last week, ahead of this council meeting, I emailed, phoned and SMSed the department head responsible for this project and asked him to make time available for me to get an update on the status of the project. I have received no reply. This is a repeat of my experience in 2010 as I attempted to prepare for the last time RMS/COINS appeared on the agenda. Again, it would appear that a municipal official is actively avoiding speaking to a councillor about RMS.

We are now being asked, for the first time as long as I have been a councillor, to approve an amount for the maintenance of COINS, which until now I believed was maintained in-house. This amount is significant, around 15% of last tranche of R77m we were forced to approve for the completion of RMS, and would not be necessary had we completed our RMS project on budget and on schedule.

In October 2010, I tabled a Notice of Motion[1], which required that “a monthly report be tabled at each Council meeting henceforth on progress towards the completion of the development and implementation of the system.”

The Motion was passed unanimously but no such reports have appeared on the agenda of any council meeting since then. As such I will write to the Speaker after this meeting requiring that this matter be comprehensively reported on at the next council meeting failing which the matter will be escalated to the MEC: COGTA.

Given the critical nature of the system to the proper functioning of the municipality’s financial system, we are forced to support this vote, but we do it under protest. I shall motivate to my colleagues that we setup a task team to urgently investigate the specific details pertaining to the RMS project and its progress. It is time now, after nearly 8 years and almost R500m that we complete and implement this project and start realising a return on investment for our ratepayers.

[1] 20101014-motion-rms

Dear Editor

At the 5 September council meeting, the chair of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure committee will answer formal questions I have tabled pertaining to cable theft in eThekwini and whether the action the municipality is taking to combat this serious problem is sufficient.

In the 2007/8 financial year cable theft losses for eThekwini were reported by the then Minister for Local Government to be R36-million.  In the City of Cape Town over the same period, cable theft losses were recoprted at R496 800. Just a year earlier, in the 2006/7 financial year, cable theft losses in the City of Cape Town were recorded at R22-million.

This represent a 44-fold decrease in losses for the City of Cape Town from one financial year to the next.

What could possible explain such a dramatic decline in just one year?  The answer is simply that the council took a policy decision not to tolerate cable theft any longer and to invest in combatting the crime.  During that financial year, Cape Town established a task team known as the Copperheads to combat the theft of copper and other metals in the City.

In my opinion, even if it costs us R30million per year to prevent R30million of cable theft, the measures are still worthwhile as they reduce loss of productivity and costly damage to equipment caused by the outages and surges which result from cable theft.  Cable theft can be combatted by this municipality, all we need is the political will to do it properly.

– Cllr Warwick Chapman
Spokesperson: Infrastructure

Herewith a list of all ward and PR councillors in the eThekwini Municipality and their contact numbers and, where available, email addresses.

Click here for a PDF of the details: 20110803-councillors-details

The maps of all the eThekwini wards are available from this blog to assist in identifying which areas falls into each ward.

Speed and alcohol are the two major causes of fatal accidents on our roads, and the combination of the two are a risk too many people take on a daily basis. In Glenwood in particular, but in the rest of eThekwini in general, motorists have lost their fear of being caught speeding. As a result we’re seeing more frequent occurrences of vehicles speeding on busy residential roads and late at night racing at many times the speed limit.

The tragic deaths of 6 students in Glenwood during May, when their driver lost control and hit a tree at well over twice the speed limit, is one terrifying example of speeding on our residential roads. Many more less serious accidents occur, knocking down walls, fences and light poles and posing a serious risk to other road users.

Myself and my predecessor have been inundated with requests for speedhumps along roads in the Glenwood area. However it neither practical to install speed humps on these longs arterial roads, nor does the council have the budget.

It is my opinion that the only solution to the problem of speeding in residential areas is regular enforcement of speed limits. Driver behaviour will only be changed when every regular driver on our roads is constantly worried about whether they will be caught for speeding or other traffic violations such as jumping robots or stop streets.

A month ago I requested that Metro Police place a focus on speed enforcement on Clark Rd eastbound between Cato and Manning Rds, and requested further that trapping be frequent and random, during the day and especially at night. I further requested a schedule of speed enforcement activities on other roads in Glenwood, not limited to Frere/Bartle and Bulwer/Nicolson roads.

Metro Police have reverted that the complaint is being investigated. I have since escalated this issue to the Director of Specialised Enforcement and will continue to push Metro Police for action.

Enquiries:
Cllr Warwick Chapman
083 7797 094
ward33@ethekwini.org