Cape Town cracks down on copper cable theft loss

By Henry Booysen
01 May 2008

The City of Cape Town’s copper cable theft task team has established a successful crime-busting operation, The Copperheads.

The task team has brought down the losses of cable theft in Cape Town from a remarkable R22 million to less than R500 000 in one year.

“This is a tremendous achievement for the City of Cape Town, which had recorded losses of over R22 million for the previous two years,” says Cllr Pieter van Dalen the head of the Copperheads.

Van Dalen explains that many arrests have been made including City of Cape Town employees and other criminals. He explains that two days ago the Copperheads had caught two employees of the City trying to sell City-owned brass taps to a scrap yard in Elsies River.

“News of Cape town’s achievements in clamping down on copper cable theft has spread to other parts of the country and the Copperheads is receiving at least 10 tip-offs per week on its toll free hot line.”

If you have any tip-off for the Copperheads you can contact them on the Cable Theft Hot Line on 0800 222 771.