Erongored loses N$5 million from copper theft

Erongo Regional Electricity Distributor (Erongored) chief executive Tino !Hanabeb says the entity is losing nearly N$5 million due to copper theft yearly.

He was speaking to Desert Radio on Wednesday morning after Erongored suffered theft of its power poles at Swakopmund and Henties Bay last week.

“At Walvis Bay alone we have 10 cases that were recorded over the past 12 months and at Swakopmund, around 15 cases that were also recorded. So, every month we have one case.”

“We have caught some culprits but you should know that it takes time for these cases through the courts to be completed. But, nonetheless, we are really thankful to some of the community members that are reporting these incidents,” he said.

The latest incident of vandalism and theft at Swakopmund resulted in the Omdel water scheme going without a power supply to the facility.

According to a statement by Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater), the Orano Desalination Plant also went offline due to high sulphur levels, meaning that no water was being received from this source.

NamWater was consequently forced to engage the Swakopmund municipality to reduce water supply in response.

At Henties bay, theft of power poles significantly affected power supply to NamWater’s infrastructure that is critical to the water supply system, spokesperson Lot Ndamanomhata says.

!Hanabeb has in the meantime cautioned perpetrators that the consequences will be severe when caught.

“Your time is up. We are on you. We know where you are. We know where you are selling all this stolen copper and all the other items and, therefore, we will get you.”

“We also have stakeholders set up in all the mines and all the key affected entities. We are working around the clock to be able to close opportunities that exist within the market for these perpetrators and we’ll bring them to book together with the police.

“We’d also like to thank the police commissioner of the region and his team for the support and timely response,” he said.