Some startling figures from Moneyweb revealed that Johannesburg’s City Power had lost 28,17% of all electricity purchased in its financial year ending June 2014. These losses were suffered mainly due to meter tampering and theft, and the trend was escalating.
In 2013, the utility lost 26% and from June 2014 to December 2014 it lost 28,8%. Eskom estimates that South Africa loses at least R7,5 billion a year as a result of electricity theft. City Power’s R2,3 billion losses in 2013/2014 alone would have been enough to power 600 000 middle-class households for a year.
A recent FF Plus press release stated that municipal property, pumps and other materials are being stolen from a half-completed sewerage plant in Wesselsbron. The municipality apparently never paid the building contractor in full and all work on the plant was halted, leaving building material and equipment unsecured.
Our railway system is also in a state of disrepair, partly due to thieves plundering infrastructure. The price of lamb chops is going through the roof due to losses suffered by sheep farmers at the hands of stock thieves. Some farmers are now forced to farm cattle or game instead.
How will we achieve progress in SA when, for every step forward, crime sets us back two paces? The saying: “evil triumphs when good men do nothing” rings true. We can either decide to do nothing and hand the country over to criminals, or take action.
Our police service is clearly outnumbered, especially when it comes to patrolling rural areas. The disbanding of the commando system also left a void that has never been filled. Realising that they can either wait to become the target of criminals or do something about it, farmers are putting their lives at risk, using their own resources to patrol their districts.
Tommy Esterhuyse, chairperson of Free State Landbou’s law and order committee, says the patrols are definitely having an impact on crime prevention and speeding up first-response time. The cooperation between farmers and police is also heartening. Esterhuyse says police and farmers often join forces in safety operations.
In one such case, 120 farmers assisted police in apprehending criminals following a farm attack near Memel, after farm workers alerted the neighbourhood safety network. On the same day, a safety network patrol caught stock thieves red-handed in the Heilbron district. These farmers are actively combating crime – the very least the rest of us can do is to stop turning a blind eye and get involved in crime fighting at community level.
