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The article by Transnet’s GM for group corporate affairs, Ayanda Shezi, on “the devastating effects of theft and vandalism” was most welcome (“Protecting infrastructure is critical for revival of economy”, June 23).
For seven decades railway property was guarded by 16,000 members of the SA Railway Police, until PW Botha abolished them in 1986. Years after that, copper prices rocketed.
Today, press reports indicate that Transnet has at most 3,000 guards, plus another 3,000 outsourced guards on contracts. That number obviously cannot do the work of 16,000 dedicated in-house railway police, who even used to have their own detective section.
It is overdue for Transnet to properly re-establish railway police, and scale them up from 6,000 to 16,000 officers dedicated to fighting rail-related crime. It is only such actions, not words, that will stop the copper thieves in their tracks.
Transnet needs to also use modern technology such as drones & thermal cameras against copper criminals.
Keith Gottschalk Claremont
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Transnet needs a full police division
The article by Transnet’s GM for group corporate affairs, Ayanda Shezi, on “the devastating effects of theft and vandalism” was most welcome (“Protecting infrastructure is critical for revival of economy”, June 23).
For seven decades railway property was guarded by 16,000 members of the SA Railway Police, until PW Botha abolished them in 1986. Years after that, copper prices rocketed.
Today, press reports indicate that Transnet has at most 3,000 guards, plus another 3,000 outsourced guards on contracts. That number obviously cannot do the work of 16,000 dedicated in-house railway police, who even used to have their own detective section.
It is overdue for Transnet to properly re-establish railway police, and scale them up from 6,000 to 16,000 officers dedicated to fighting rail-related crime. It is only such actions, not words, that will stop the copper thieves in their tracks.
Transnet needs to also use modern technology such as drones & thermal cameras against copper criminals.
Keith Gottschalk
Claremont
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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