There is no question that more than 9 tons of copper – already packaged in bags – were found at the site, however the question is where it originated from and whether all of it can in fact be linked to Envirocycle Vanderbijlpark and its site manager directly.

Envirocycle’s attorney Ulrich Kruger from the Houghton, Johannesburg, legal firm BDK Attorneys says the entire haul originates from ArcelorMittal SA in Vanderbijlpark and they want it returned.

Kruger admitted that a case allegedly linking the Envirocycle manager to 186kgs of stolen copper originating from Telkom was continuing and not immediately at issue at this stage.

Envirocycle will now challenge the Gauteng SAPS Provincial Commissioner with an urgent application in the Johannesburg High Court enrolled for Tuesday next week to return almost the whole 9.2 ton haul back to its site excepting the 186 kgs allegedly originating from Telkom.

This move follows an intensive internal investigation by Envirocycle itself.
The Office of the Gauteng SAPS Provincial Commissioner has refused to comment on the latest development or on the existing case under investigation.

ArcelorMittal SA Head Office in Vanderbijlpark also did not respond to inquiries on whether it had sold copper to Envirocycle or whether the vast majority of the copper seized by SAPS had in fact originated from the steel giant.

SAPS Gauteng Province spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo, who issued the original Police statement on the massive copper haul (but did not mention Envirocycle by name) said he had no comment due to next week’s urgent court application.

Masondo also said he was not aware of an earlier letter sent by Kruger to Police demanding the copper be returned.