Behind SA’s grand copper heist
Cable theft has become a scourge in South Africa, hobbling parastatals and costing the economy billions of rand
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula last week hailed the Shosholoza Meyl’s first trip from Joburg to Cape Town since 2021 as a “railway renaissance”, one that would position rail “as a key contributor to economic transformation”. Yet just over an hour from its destination, the train came to an abrupt and ignominious halt as a result of the overnight theft of copper cabling. It’s an apt metaphor for a crisis that has long been in the making.
Copper has created a new “gold rush” in an expanding illicit economy shaped by vast organised crime networks, gangs and a seemingly endless and expendable supply of foot soldiers willing to risk their lives to feed addictions to nyaope and tik, or to eke just enough for another meal. ..
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