Cost of vandalism and theft of electrical materials in H1: US$316,000 – Mozambique

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Cost of vandalism and theft of electrical materials in H1: US$316,000 – Mozambique

9:13 CAT | 30 Jul 2019

Picture: EDM

Vandalism, the theft of electrical materials, and the theft of electricity itself caused losses of over 316,000 US dollars to Mozambique’s publicly-owned electricity company, EDM, in the first six months of this year.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the head of EDM security, Alberto Nhamue, said these losses were much greater than those in the same period in 2018, estimated at slightly more than 160,000 dollars – a clear indication that EDM’s security situation is deteriorating.

The vandalism normally takes the form of sabotaging electricity pylons, in order to steal metallic parts, such as angle brackets, which are then melted down and transformed into domestic utensils such as pots and pans, or to steal copper cables. Nhamue said these crimes have led to the detention of 25 people this year.

Nhamue was attending a meeting in Maputo of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), which is discussing strategies to prevent crimes against the electricity infrastructure in the region.

Such meetings are held every six months, he said, and are used to outline strategies to minimise or mitigate the theft and destruction of electrical materials.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Adriano Jonas, a director of Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi, said the countries of the southern African region need a concerted strategy for dealing with thefts.

He called for harmonising the legislation in the member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). “The consequences of the theft of a simple cable, are not limited to that cable, but concern the qualty of the power supplied, and the economic and social development of the country”, he warned.

He thought pressure should be brought to bear on legislators, in order to tighten up laws and discourage the thefts.
Nhamue said that EDM has been calling for heavy penalties for those who vandalise pylons or steal equipment. People accused of these crimes should not be able to obtain bail, he said, but there is no sign that these tougher measures will be adopted.

The Tanzanian representative, Maximillian Birigi, who was chairing the meeting, said that in his country the penalties for theft or vandalism of electrical equipment can be as much as 16 years imprisonment, but in other states the penalty can be less than two years.

Source: AIM