Scrap theft an emerging menace

Please click on the following link for an interesting article on Scrap Theft:
http://www.timesofoman.com/innercat.asp?detail=47315&rand=

Copperheads pounce on cable thieves

A 34-year-old man was one of four people arrested, by the City of Cape Town’s Metal Theft Unit, for allegedly stealing about 100kg of city-owned cabling.

The man allegedly works for a sub-contractor who installs electricity connections for the City of Cape Town’s low-cost housing projects.

The suspects were caught by the city’s Metal Theft Unit, known as the Copperheads, at a scrap dealership in Elsies River.

The unit recovers about two tons of stolen cable annually, which saved the city about R1 million a year.

Message from the President

Colleagues and Delegates

It is a pleasure once more to extend an invitation to all colleagues and delegates to this special event.  The South African Revenue Protection Association cordially invites you to its 15th Annual Convention that will be held as follows:

Date:  21 & 22 July 2011
Venue:  Jack Botes Hall in Polokwane

Let us first take this opportunity to thank all those who have voted in the Local Government Elections on the 18 May 2011.  Your efforts might look minimal but believe me it is a huge contribution to the strengthening of the democratic process in this country of ours, South Africa.  It is everyone’s responsibility and we owe it to ourselves to fully participate in building this country.

As it is probably already apparent, the theme of our convention “Revenue Protection as part of Utility Financial Sustainability” captures a burning issue, which is a hub around which all our activities as Utilities revolve, i.e. how do we instill Financial Sustainability in our Utilities.  How can Revenue Protection contribute to the quest of Utilities being Financially Sustainable. What tools do we have and can use to create Financially Sustainable Utilities countrywide, continent-wide and worldwide.

It is common sense that without Financial Sustainability all our efforts and activities will be futile and fruitless.   Our theme “REVENUE PROTECTION AS PART OF UTILITY FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY” therefore fully captures the essence of the monster that we need to grapple with.

The papers that we expect to be presented at the convention are geared at addressing the theme directly and in some way indirectly.  Various presentations will be made that are directly linked to the above theme with a view to address the challenge of Financial Sustainability.  Experts and knowledgeable professionals from a variety of industries, that are somehow linked to our activities as Utilities have been lined up to shed light on available tools, strategies and practices that will enable us as Utilities to create Financially Sustainable organisations that are flexible and quick to react to the market forces and market conditions.

The papers will address a variety of Sub-Themes including Non Ferrous Theft, Quick Cash Flow Recovery Solutions and Practices, Illegal Connections, Water Challenges, Legislation, Technology Solutions, Financial Sustainability and Credit Control, Solutions To Tampering By Large Electricity Consumers and Data Management and Cleansing.

As you can see, it’s a mixed basket of issues and the variety is absolutely enticing.  There is an obvious opportunity that whatever challenges we are facing as utilities might be touched upon by the convention.  We would therefore appreciate your presence and your valuable contributions to make the convention a memorable one.

Yours faithfully
Malesela Lelaka
SARPA President

SARPA Convention 2011: 21 - 22 July 2011

The South African Revenue Protection Association will host its 15th Annual Revenue Protection Convention 2011 at the Jack Botes Hall from 21-22 July 2011. The convention is hosted by the City of Polokwane.
 
The theme for the convention is “REVENUE PROTECTION AS PART OF UTILITY FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY”.

To register please click here.

Membership	Paid by 30 June 2011	Paid after 30 June 2011
Member	R2 400.00	R2 800.00
Non-Member	R3 300.00	R3 700.00

Please click here for accommodation options.

SARPA is proud to announce that for the first time we will be hosting a PARTNERS DAY PROGRAMME in the city of Polokwane.

SPONSORSHIP AND EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES

The following are some of the areas which will be addressed during the convention:

• Non Ferrous theft
• Cash flow
• ILLEGAL connections
• Water challenges
• Legislation
• Technology Solutions
• Quick cash flow recovery solutions and practices
• Financial sustainability and credit control
• Solutions for tampering by large electricity consumers
• Data management and cleaning

SARPA will once again be looking for sponsors this year to help cover the costs of the convention. Organisations who contribute toward sponsorship for the convention will be acknowledged in the conference proceeding book as well as being mentioned several times throughout the convention.

There is a variety of opportunities that can be sponsored at the convention, the convention satchels/folders, programme/proceedings book, lunches, teas & refreshments, exhibition area, etc.

Should your organisation be interested in getting involved this year, please contact Andrew Nkosi at SARPA on 011 789 1384 or email andrew@vdw.co.za

Please click here for Sponsorship Opportunities
Please click here for an Exhibition Application Form  

Summary: Minutes of SARPA Executive council meeting

A summary of the previous minutes from the SARPA Executive council meeting held on 16 March 2011:

WORKSHOP FEEDBACK AND RESOLUTIONS
The council reflected on the executive council workshop that was held on 15 March 2011, and AGREED to the following recommendations of the workshop:
With reference to the revenue recovery project the following was AGREED:

• The revenue recovery project to be referred to as an “independent review”
• The intellectual property of the revenue recovery toolkit belongs to SARPA.
• The intellectual property of reports generated using the toolkit will belong to the municipality.  
• The manager at the municipality who commissioned the revenue recovery report must decide on the distribution of the report. 
• The revenue recovery project reports must include an executive summary part. 
• The council thanked the revenue recovery team for the pilot project and what was achieved.
• That authority for more pilot projects will only be given once the current pilot report has been reviewed by the executive council. 
• In future only the MM or head of a department can commission a revenue recovery project. 
• To publicise the revenue recovery project in the AMEU and SARPA bulletins. 
• To promote with AMEU branches to have SARPA as a standing item on their agendas.

Also AGREED:

• To update the membership fees in the membership handbook and remove the entry about value added tax.
• To sponsor municipal delegates, working for municipalities with a cash flow crisis, to attend SARPA meetings. Branch chairmen to recommend payments to the secretariat with due motivation. The grants to only contribute towards costs and are only applicable if the municipality is not paying for transport and costs. The secretary to advice members of this support. 
• To invite PIESA and IERE to do a revenue protection training video together with SARPA. 
• The video to have a strong IP statement allowing only internal use at utilities but requiring a royalty for commercial use. 
• To invite DoE, Cooperative Governance Department, SALGA and IMFO to provide perspectives on revenue protection at the annual SARPA convention.
• Arrange a meeting between SARPA and WISA leaderships to discuss water RP.  

The workshop suggested the following main programmes for SARPA for 2011:
a)    Revenue Protection DVD
b)    Revenue Recovery Project
c)    Support to members with S&T constraints.
d)    Meeting with the Water Institute (WISA) to consider institutional arrangements for water RP.

The executive council noted a current court case where very long sentences were levied on persons operating ghost vending systems. The secretary noted that the discussion on ghost vending systems at the workshop included suggestions that criminals are changing the supply group codes of ghost vending systems. Considering the level of security involved in these systems these suggestions are unlikely to have substance.

AGREED to:

• Obtain a copy of the ghost vendor judgment and publish in the SARPA bulletin.
• Not to comment on rumours of supply group code changes on ghost vending systems without firm evidence in hand.

BRANCH REPORTS
Eastern Cape
Last event was held on 18 February 2011 in Grahamstown. Mr Chris Gower was elected as chairman of the branch. The next event is planned for 18 August in Nelson Mandela Bay. AGREED to purchase a small token of appreciated for the outgoing chairman.

Kwazulu Natal
The branch will meet in April in Kokstad where a new committee will be elected.

Good Hope
The branch met on 24 February. Mr Greg Stopford was elected as the new chairman, Paul de Vries as vice chairman, and Neil Ballantyne as branch secretary. The next meeting is on 20 may in Lamberts Bay. Noted that members from the Northern Cape are now attending Good Hope branch events. The last meeting was attended by 67 people.

Limpopo
Branch met on 17 February and the meeting was well attended.
Members agreed that the practice of publishing meeting dates long in advance is essential for good planning and attendance of branch meetings.

EXPANSION OF SARPA IN AFRICA AND NAME OF SARPA
Noting that Mr Bindeman is acting as secretary for the PIESA revenue loss committee, it was AGREED that regional revenue protection work can be conducted through PIESA. The name of SARPA should stay as is. AGREED that Mr Bindeman provide regular feedback to SARPA on PIESA activities.  

NRS STANDARDISATION PROJECTS
Status of various standards was given as following:

• NRS 101 Metal Theft – Final
• NRS 055 Revenue Protection – Review Final
• NRS 080  System Losses – WIP
• NRS 096 Seals – Published
• NRS 059 Earthing – Published
• NRS 057 Metering – To be pursued by Mr Byker.

The next Executive council meeting will be held on 20 July 2011.