Copper theft: 100 arrests in six months

By Joseph Booysen

The city's copper theft busting unit, the Copperheads, have racked up almost 100 arrests in six months, but some copper collectors say thieves continue to give honest sellers a bad name.

The Cape Argus spoke to some scrap collectors to find out how they made a living from scrap metal. A 44-year-old scrap collector from Bonteheuwel who only identified himself as Anthony said the reputation of honest scrap collectors was tarnished by greedy criminals.

"I have been collecting scrap for about 20 years, and as a married man I see it as my only means of providing for my family.

"I have to feed and send my children to school and it is tough to survive in this industry as there is lots of competition from other scrap collectors.

"We are also given a bad name in our communities by 'tikkoppe' who steal from residents' properties and take anything they can sell for scrap."

He said they had no regard for their families or their community as long as they could get money to support their habit.

"Most of the scrap I get from burnt shacks in squatter camps and pay the owner about R50 for a cartload of mostly burnt roof sheeting and other metal items which can no longer be used by the shack owner."

Speaking from the side of the road near a scrap metal dealer he said he first had to unload the scrap from the cart as horses were not allowed in the scrapyard.

Another scrap collector, Richard Mitchell, 22, also of Bonteheuwel said it was his only source of income as it was difficult to get a job, particularly for someone with a criminal record.

A director of a city scrap metal business told the Cape Argus that measures were in place to ensure that staff made every effort to check for stolen items among those that are sold to them.

"If metals are identified as stolen, the police are called and all available information about the supplier is given to them," the director said.

Another city scrap metal dealer, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, said he had measures in place, including CCTV cameras, to ensure that items were not stolen.

"The right system to follow when a client comes in with items is that the items must first be checked to see if they are not stolen. Items are not accepted from clients who do not produce their identification documents."

"These items are then kept in a holding store for seven days before they can be resold as scrap, if they are not claimed as stolen goods in that period," he said.

Councillor Pieter van Dalen, chairperson of the City of Cape Town's task team, the Copperheads, said the unit had been instrumental in many copper theft arrests.

He said 95 people had been arrested in a six-month period.

"Our biggest bust so far was 500kg of copper, 100kg of cast iron and 24 water meters that were found to belong to the City of Cape Town," he said.

• This article was originally published on page 13 of The Cape Argus on March 27, 2008