‘The damage to state infrastructure deeply compromises energy supply, transport and economic growth, and job creation,” said Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel at a meeting on Wednesday to unpack the government’s decision to ban the export of scrap metal for six months. 

Patel — alongside ministers Bheki Cele (police), Pravin Gordhan (public enterprises), and Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele — briefed the media on the plan to ban the export of ferrous and non-ferrous metals waste, scrap and semi-finished ferrous and non-ferrous metal products.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel. (Photo: GCIS)

During Wednesday’s briefing at Parliament, Patel said copper and scrap metal theft from Transnet, Eskom and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) cost the economy about R47-billion annually. 

Patel made reference to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address in February, where he said the damage caused by the theft of scrap metal and cable from infrastructure such as the electrical and rail systems was enormous.

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“We will take decisive steps this year, both through improved law enforcement and by considering further measures to address the sale or export of such scrap metal,” said the President. 

In August, the Cabinet sought public comment on a draft policy that would ban the export of ferrous and non-ferrous metals waste, scrap and semi-finished ferrous and non-ferrous metal products for six months. 

Soon after the draft policy was released in August, Patel appeared before Parliament’s Oversight Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition to explain the ban. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Copper theft from parastatals and municipalities estimated at R46.5bn, says Minister Patel”

Patel said the department had received 2,800 comments from stakeholders within the industry, organised labour, businesses, MPs, state-owned enterprises and government departments during the public participation process. 

The policy was approved and confirmed via a Cabinet statement dated 16 November. It has now been adopted and will be made public via a Government Gazette, which was due to be published on Wednesday.

In addition to the ban, registered scrap metal dealers will be required to keep records of purchasers. Beyond the six months that the ban will be in place, Patel said there would be amendments to legislation, including moving away from using cash to buy scrap metal. 

Patel said there were two options when looking at the ban because there were legitimate scrap traders that would be affected by this decision. He said there was a choice for either a permanent ban or a limited ban that could dampen the demand for scrap metals — and the second option was chosen. 

 Law enforcement

At the briefing, Cele spoke of the Economic Infrastructure Task Teams, which have been in place since June, that sought to investigate and monitor such infrastructure-related crimes. There are 20 of these task teams nationwide. 

Cele said that from 1 June to 31 October, the teams conducted 3,776 operations countrywide and made 1,946 arrests. He said that in 43 cases, people were sentenced to between one and 26 years in prison for offences related to the theft of infrastructure. The task teams would be further capacitated over the medium term.

Cele asked that state-owned enterprises identify their infrastructure, saying while it would not eliminate the need for policing, “it would make life easier going forward”. 

Daily Maverick previously reported that crime fighters in Cape Town said that Eskom and Telkom were to blame for suspected cable thieves who had been released, because they “don’t lay charges”. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Criminals are enjoying load shedding, say Cape Town communities affected by crime”

When Daily Maverick raised this issue during the briefing, Cele said this was why he wanted infrastructure such as cables to be clearly identified.

Gordhan said that up to November, Transnet had some 742km of cables stolen. “Consideration should be given quite seriously to this kind of sabotage and theft at Transnet and perhaps even at Prasa, with treason. We are now undermining, very consciously, quite actively, in a very planned way, the disruption of the economy.”

Patel said that while damage to the economy had been quantified by research, “How do you quantify damage to households and hospitals being without electricity because scrap merchants stripped public infrastructure?” DM