Eight suspects arrested for vandalism, cable theft in one night

Between Wednesday night and the early hours of Thursday morning, local security firm Atlas arrested eight suspects.

The first arrest was made in Linkside, where the Atlas team responded to reports that a suspicious man was walking through the neighbourhood with a trolley full of cables.

“Thanks to sharp coordination and rapid reaction from Atlas Security, the suspect was tracked from the golf course all the way to Carnoustie Crescent. When stopped, the suspect tried to hide the contents of his trolley, but our officer’s persistence paid off – over 20m of stolen cables were recovered and the suspect was detained until SAPS arrived,” Wayne Hart from Atlas Security said.

On the same night – in the early hours of Thursday morning – three suspects were seen by the security firm’s Rapid Intervention Unit walking along Kempston Road. They were observed digging up municipal poles with “break-in tools” at hand. Working together, the team managed to apprehend all three before they could cause more damage or slip away.

“SAPS was on site to take the suspects into custody, with stolen infrastructure secured,” Hart added.

Around the same time, other teams responded to information that there was suspicious activity in Harrower Road and Milner Avenue, where vehicle wheel caps and a gate motor had been stolen.

“Their teamwork resulted in the arrest of two suspects, the recovery of stolen property and further disruption of a local crime spree,” Hart said.

On Thursday, 29 May, Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor Babalwa Lobishe decried  “the escalating violence, gender-based crimes, infrastructure vandalism and emotional distress affecting families across our city.”

“Our communities are enduring a disturbing increase in crime and destruction, including robberies, gang violence and the deliberate vandalism of municipal infrastructure.

“Most appalling is the desecration of graves in Zwide, KwaZakhele and Gelvandale, an act that disrespects our heritage and wounds our families’ dignity,” Lobishe said.

While municipal infrastructure vandalism was identified as one of the main threats to the sustainability of the metro in the draft integrated development plan, there were not many solutions proposed by the municipality, except for a vague statement that “various anti-vandalism measures” were being “explored and implemented”.

Read more: Nelson Mandela Bay is the most ‘fixable’ metro in SA

At the city council meeting on 29 May, Lobishe said some of those vandalising municipal assets were “part of the system”. She called for an extensive forensic probe into the city’s departments of electricity and energy and infrastructure and engineering.

Read more: Nelson Mandela Bay metro takes steps against six officials over R10m copper cable scandal

In January, six officials in the electricity and energy department were suspended for allegedly ordering R10-million in copper cables without authorisation.

In August and September 2024, three incident reports were filed regarding the theft of 2,132m of cable, which cost the city R250,601.02.

• On 27 August, 159m of cable valued at R49,046.35 was stolen;


• On 2 September, 1,086m of cable worth R97,520 was looted;


• On 9 September, 887m of cable valued at R104,034.67 was stolen.

In September, a municipal official tasked with inspecting scrapyards for stolen copper cables was arrested for stealing cables from the evidence storeroom.

The man worked as a second-hand goods inspector at the municipality.

Referring to the ongoing and brazen theft of streetlight cables, Lobishe said she could bring in contractors – even from neighbouring municipalities – to install streetlights again, but “not even 48 hours later, I know it is going to be dark again.

“We can’t have a sustainable municipality if our funds are going down someone’s back,” she said, adding that the biggest root cause of vandalism in the metro was corruption “internally and with service providers.”

She called for immediate action to be taken: “Ratepayers’ money is going to go down the drain, with all our names, because we will just watch it until this municipality runs dry,” she said.

In February, after cable thieves looted the electricity network in KwaNobuhle, the area went without power for weeks.

Lobishe then announced at a council meeting that the metro had opened a criminal case at the KwaNobuhle police station.

To try to curb theft and vandalism, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber runs a programme called Adopt-a-Substation, where businesses have taken to protecting the substations in their area by paying for private security.

In February, the Business Chamber announced that there had been two years without an incident of vandalism or cable theft at several substations protected by this initiative, including Struandale, Matomela, KwaFord and Swartkops. DM