Authorities have recovered scores of stolen copper cables from a scrapyard in Devland, near Soweto

[News]

SAPS in Gauteng on scene in one of the biggest copper cable stashes ever discovered at a yard in Devland near Soweto - cable theft teams from ESCOM, PRASA, TRANSNET & Electicity depts have been called in to assist

City Power on Thursday said it was pleased to have recovered scores of its stolen copper cables from a scrapyard in Devland, near Soweto.

Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said targeting scrapyards was key.

“When you want to kill the snake, you need to target the head. The scrapyards are the head of the cable theft problem. While we want to work with them to help us in dealing with this problem, we have realised that some of them are part of the problem,” said Mangena.

“We will intensify the raids on scrapyards in the coming days so that we cut the head that keeps the demand for the copper cables high,” he added.

City Power, Eskom and other affected government entities joined the police and metro officials in conducting raids. Mangena said Thursday’s operations were conducted in the Kliptown, Devland, Pimville and Eldorado Park areas.

“We thank the SAPS, JMPD and the community for their assistance in dealing with cable theft, which not only costs the city millions in lost revenue but causes immeasurable inconvenience to our residents,” Mangena said.