Business on verge of closure due to cable theft
Small business owner has suffered many cases of cable and meter theft - two resulting in fires on his property.
Cable theft is increasing rapidly across the country. Whether it’s households or businesses, the trend of stealing cables virtually affects everyone.
For local small business owner, Willie Spangenberg this trend has become a living nightmare. Over the past 20 years Willie has built his motor scrap yard from the ground up. However, for the past five years his business has slowly been losing the fight against this form of vandalism.
Also read: City Power active in the fight against cable theft
He has had many cases of cable and meter theft – two of these incidents resulting in fires on his property.
“The first fire occurred last year in February and the other one on Friday, January 21. While we were busy trying to contain the fire in one section that Friday, we didn’t realise that it had spread to our storeroom power box. We had thousands of rands worth of equipment in that room which was damaged extensively by the fire. Most parts are irreparable,” he said.
Some of the more expensive parts included gearboxes, engines and motors. In the front workshop the CCTV camera system, a laptop, fridge, radio and fish tank were damaged irreparably.
“We could barely get by owing to Covid, and now we have to deal with this too. Because we simply had to carry on with business, I replaced the cable on my property out of my own pocket. It cost me a staggering R60 000. This is money that we don’t have,” Willie continued.
“The municipality’s insurance only paid out R11 000 the first time this happened – and only about ten months later. We are on the verge of closing our doors and it just feels like nobody is batting an eye. The thieves just come back every time and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
This has placed Willie’s business at a disadvantage, forcing him to reduce his eight employees to four. According to the employees they are mostly without power and are lucky if they get electricity twice a week.
“This is people’s livelihoods we’re dealing with. I have to be able to pay my employees so they can look after their families. The neighbouring businesses have the same problem, and we have to draw the line somewhere. This is our bread and butter,” Willie concluded.
