THE upgrading of the R619 (North Central Arterial) between the Richards Bay CBD and Brackenham has given cable thieves a new opportunity to strike.
It’s a chance they didn’t miss, stealing the cabling to traffic lights at the Antelope Alley intersection to Wildenweide, twice in a matter of four days.
The first hit was on Sunday night, when about 30 metres of newly-installed cabling was dug up on the western side of the intersection.
It was a simple matter of cutting the main cable where it came out the ground and then again at the top of the traffic light poles and pulling out the entire section.
The same modus operandi was followed in the theft of the cables on the opposite side on Wednesday night.
‘This is now totally out of hand and I place the blame firmly on the buyers of the stolen copper,’ said Andrew Payton, Senior Technical Assistant at the City of uMhlathuze.
‘Surely they must know that any copper offered for purchase must have been illegally obtained?
‘I hope they never have the pain of one of their children being killed in a car accident because the traffic lights weren’t working due to cable theft.’
While the thieves will be lucky to get about R300 for the stolen cable at a scrap metal dealer, the bill to the City – and ultimately the ratepayer – will be in the region of R60 000…not to mention the financial and emotional cost of accidents.
