Theft and damage to infrastructure
Kgang Moloko
Kgang Moloko
North West Province
Bojanala District Municipality
Rustenburg Local Municipality
Phokeng Village
20 October 2024
Theft and damage to infrastructure
Phokeng Village experiences theft and damage to public and private infrastructure, streetlights are destroyed for copper cables, solar panels from rooftops of household buildings and community developments, and copper pipes are stolen with people waking up to the sound of water flowing from damaged pipes. The demand and available black market for copper and also solar panels are causing negative effects on communities and local institutions setting back community development.
The sight of street light poles cut and lying on the ground and in some cases, trenches between the poles is common as thieves extract and steal copper cables, these thieves target mostly the streets on the outskirts during the night, community wakes up damaged poles and trenches left open. “I was happy to have streetlights in our streets as the nights are dark, it was now safer during the night, now this! … back in the dark” said Tebogo with sadness. “We did not hear anything; it is like these people use ‘ditlhare (evil concoctions) to make us sleep because we are vigilant and checking out our surroundings during the night but on this particular night, none of us detected anything. We need frequent police patrol during the night as it would not be possible for these thieves to dig trenches to remove cables, so I believe police visibility is needed” concluded Tebogo.
One other major theft we experienced was of solar-powered panels from the Royal Bafokeng Administration Borehole water project situated in the Tshwara section next to Kotokoto Dam. The project aims to assist in eradicating water shortage in the village by constructing boreholes and extracting water to filtration sites using solar-powered energy utilizing Solar panels the water is then pumped into reservoirs. After a month of panels being installed, they disappeared during the night, were stolen, and halted the project. The investigation by the Royal Bafokeng Protection Unit, a crime prevention unit of RBA, tranced the perpetrators in the Tshwara section, leading them to the Number 8 informal settlement where the panel was moved. The informal settlement derives its name from the Impala Platinum Mine 8 shaft as the settlement is next to the shaft.
The perpetrators were arrested and are facing criminal charges, the panels were recovered, and the project is back on track. “These boys are known thieves and from the same section as the solar panel site, they were the first suspects, and they turned out to be the ones who stole the panels. The courts should stop granting bail to repeating offenders, especially of the same kind of crime like these boys always arrested for theft, that could assist in changing their mindset because they don’t care they know they will be released and they continue stealing, and we cannot rough them a bit because fast in arresting community for assault”—said David.
“We have common criminals stealing to make money and drug addicts looking for quick cash to support their addiction, they are everywhere looking for something to steal even tombstones are not safe, every manhole within the village is opened looking for cable or steel, anything of value to sell”. says Tshepo
The crime has prompted the formation of community patrols during the night to protect workers coming late from work and the ones going early in the morning as some mine workers go to work as early as 3 AM and for protection of infrastructure, however, these patrols have a history of not being sustainable and lack consistency as they lack funding, come households contribute money to keep the patrolling and support the people doing patrols financially with their needs during the night. In a recent case, the leadership squabbled, and dwindling interest and support from the community collapsed the patrol structure.
