In a drastic move to curb copper theft, South Africa may designate copper as a precious metal. As it is copper theft costs the country about 7 billion rand a year, according to a well known financial newspaper.

According to legal experts, designating copper as precious should make it harder for thieves to sell the stolen commodity.

Theft of this commodity has become such a problem that just last year South African logistics group Transnet spent at least R30-million to replace stolen copper cables, while state-owned power utility Eskom spent about R38-million, the paper said.

Mineral resources director-general Sandile Nogxina said his department would submit proposals to cabinet to amend the Precious Metals Act to include copper as a precious metal.

Comments by the Technical Advisor.

I was approached by a local radio station to comment on what impact I think the process of classifying copper as a precious metal would have on the theft of non-ferrous metals in South Africa. I subsequently first contacted several of the leading role players in this regard in the country, in order to determine their feelings as well.

It was noted by all that we did investigate this issue with the help of Business Against Crime a few years ago and decided to shelve the proposal due to the following reasons:

1. It would really be impossible for manufacturers, distributors, contractors and Utilities alike to implement and manage all the new regulations that they will have to adhere to when in possession of items containing copper. This will also cost a lot of money to implement for everyone involved.
2. At present there are not enough resources from government to administer the present laws and regulations, let alone managing this very difficult process.
3. It is envisaged that this implementation will punish the legal entities more than the illegal ones, as they in any case disregard any rules and regulations in order to make an “extra buck”
4. The theft of Utility metals has escalated over the years and at present at least half of the items stolen does not contain any copper, therefore they will only revert to other items to steal that is not regulated.

We, therefore, felt that nothing has drastically changed for the good since our investigation, to indicate that we should change our viewpoint. I, therefore, responded by saying that we would highly appreciate any effort by anyone to assist us in the process of combating Utility metal theft. However, we feel that there needs to be a lot of interaction with all the relevant role players before such a process can be successfully implemented.

We would, in the meantime, strongly suggest that the government rather ensure that a dedicated SAPS Unit be formed as soon as possible, which would focus only on Utility metal / non-ferrous metal theft. Furthermore, that there should be pressure placed on those responsible to draw up the regulations of the new law so that we can at last start using it for the goal it was written for, namely to stop the illegal trading in non ferrous metals in Southern Africa.

Rens Bindeman

A Revenue Recovery work group has been formed which will meet on the 6th - 7th July 2010 at Willow Park Conference venue, Kempton Park.

The reason for this process comes from discussions held during the recent NRS workshops, where certain shortcomings in processes utilized by Utilities were identified. During these discussions it became very clear that some of these processes are not known to most Municipal officials and that there is also some methods of risk identification, revenue recovery and prosecution processes that are not been implemented effectively by Utilities.

The goal of the session will be to workshop these issues and compile a “Strategy Document” which will be forwarded to the Executive for approval. This document can then be utilized as a tool to assist Utilities that are experiencing large non-technical losses, to effectively recover lost revenue and minimize future losses.

It is envisaged to structure the knowledge accumulated during these sessions into a strategic document that could be utilized as a type of “Revenue Recovery Toolkit”.

The processes that has been identified so far are:-

1) Process of identifying: -

• Tampering with “medium to large power user” meters
• Negligence with regard to meter installations / maintenance

2) Process of determining: -

• Best timing of inspections at each type of metering installation
• Reasons for the malfunctioning of meters 
• Effective criminal and disciplinary actions

3) Process of communicating: -

• The correct methods of evidence collection
• Effective protection of metering equipment.
• Data analysis processes to substantiate evidence found during inspections
• How to interact with Law Enforcement Agencies and Judicial structures 
• Safety aspects of metering installations due to tampering, theft or negligence

We have also received a request from EDI Holdings to discuss their revenue protection analysis report, compiled from information obtained during their ring fencing exercises in several Municipalities in South Africa. They are proposing that we send a delegation to some Municipalities that are experiencing high non technical losses, in order to identify their shortcomings and propose some remedial actions. As the abovementioned issues share the same outcome, Mr Deon Louw of EDI will be presenting the findings of their survey to the workgroup, who will then incorporate this information into the strategy document.

Please take note that the Strategy document will be presented and discussed in the last session at the upcoming Convention, so make sure you do not miss this chance to be part of a very important process of identifying shortcomings in Utilities and assisting them in how to minimize and recover their losses.

Rens Bindeman

Public Enterprises Minister, Barbara Hogan, said cable theft along railway lines is causing exporters in Gauteng massive delays in getting their goods to harbours.

Delays were being experienced on the Johannesburg to Durban route due to the theft of the overhead copper cables.

"The average transit time for containers on the Johannesburg to Durban corridor (NATCOR) is 19 hours. Delays have been experienced on the NATCOR due to theft of overhead copper cable. Containers from Gauteng to Port Elizabeth/Ngqura take 40 hours to reach the destination because of cable theft in Gauteng. The transit time of containers to and from Cape Town is 46 hours, while the design is 36 hours of transit time," said Hogan.

There have been steps taken to counter this and it includes converting the copper cables to "tiger wire" and increasing the number of security guards in "hotspot" crime areas.

The minister said her department had also developed a joint working relationship with the National Intelligence Agency and the National Prosecuting Authority, which has resulted in the apprehension and conviction of cable thieves.

At last, we have reached the stage where we are able to proceed with the proposed workshops in the different regions. The first proposal by the SARPA Executive to organize training sessions during the Branch meetings proved to be difficult to implement. Organizers felt that if the training session should be held on the same day as the Branch meeting, it would escalate the attendance numbers at the meetings to such an extent that they would have to utilize other more expensive venues. It was also noted that the persons attending the meetings are not necessarily the persons who should be attending the training.

During the PIESA / SARPA training session that was held in November 2009, we received no attendance from the branches Kwazulu Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Polokwane areas.

All Branches have subsequently indicated during consultation that they would rather have separate events, as they would also like to draw in members from the smaller Utilities. It was also suggested that the workshops should be held in more than one place in big Branch areas, in order to save on travelling for attendees. In order to save on costs it is also suggested that we only make use of Municipal venues. We are also looking to obtain sponsorship from affiliate members for the purpose of refreshments for these workshops.

The Cape of Good Hope Branch has already identified 2 venues in the Western and Southern Cape areas, in order to hold the workshops in September. The Polokwane Branch has indicated that the workshop would be held in tandem with their November meeting.

Representatives from some of the Metros have also indicated that they would like to assist in the facilitation process. It is, therefore, suggested in order to keep costs low, that other branches follow the Polokwane initiative and arrange the workshop in tandem with other important events in the region. We have, therefore, requested that the relevant Branch Chairpersons notify us regarding the proposed venues and dates of their workshops as soon as possible, as we need to report back at the Convention regarding the proposed dates and venues of the workshops.

Please note that these workshops will be unique in the sense that the information to be shared will be determined by the persons who attend each specific workshop. A list of topics and processes that could be discussed have already been drawn up and will be distributed to City Managers, so that they can decide which members to send to these events.

We see this is as a golden opportunity to also interact with the smaller Utilities, who are mostly non-members of SARPA and to get them involved in our activities. It is one of our goals this year to obtain new membership and to assist Utilities in minimizing their losses. It is important that we in SARPA show that we really care about these issues by sharing our knowledge with all the Utilities in Southern Africa.