Crafty skelms have now taken to cutting down street and railway poles across the Cape Flats to sell for scrap metal.
A video taken in Netreg over the weekend, which shows thieves climbing a pole and grinding the metal into smaller chunks, has gone viral on chat groups.
The footage was captured by a 42-year-old mom who asked not to be named.
“I was coming home from my friend’s house just after 2pm on Sunday when I saw how they were cutting the poles at the railway line,” she says.
“It was shocking to see how they climb a pole and start grinding it off stukkie by stukkie to sell for scrap metal.
“In the video you can even hear a child come past who says: ‘dis reg, antie, vat `n video’. I sent it to the chat group and the councillor and later we saw police arriving and confiscating the poles.”
In August, wakker police in Manenberg arrested a 21-year-old man when they spotted him pushing a wheelie bin filled with street poles.
Cops were dumbfounded when they questioned the man and found that he had cut the street poles into smaller pieces and put them in the bin, planning to sell it at a local scrapyard.
STEEL AWAY: Netreg skelms grinding the poles into chunks. Video supplied
City of Cape Town spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo confirms the poles stolen in Netreg were owned by Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and says the theft of electrical infrastructure costs the City millions to replace.
“The overhead line support infrastructure shown in the video is not the property of the City of Cape Town but of the Prasa.
“This infrastructure forms part of the Prasa rail equipment in the area,” he says.
“In recent months, the City has seen a significant increase in vandalism and damage to its electrical infrastructure in some areas across the Metro.”
He explains the areas most affected are Philippi, Mitchells Plain, Muizenberg and Wynberg.
“Between July 2020 and March 2021, the City of Cape Town has spent more than R15.5 million on repairing and replacing City electricity infrastructure damaged by vandalism, theft and illegal connections across the metro.”
To report damage to municipal electrical infrastructure, send an SMS to 31220 or send an email to [email protected].