This is an increasing trend occurring as the country persistently experiences higher levels of loadshedding, with statistics showing that bouts of loadshedding have a direct correlation with the spike in vandalism and battery or generator theft at network sites. He points out that if a site is not secured soon enough after it has been hit by a syndicate, the opportunistic criminality will then also occur. “They will, at times, disguise themselves as third-party contractors so as not to be confronted by local communities and take that opportunity to specifically steal batteries.” “The vandalism of base stations has shifted from opportunistic criminality, from petty thieves breaking into the stations and sites to get what copper or metals they can get, to a more organised form of criminality being run by syndicates,” MTN South Africa CEO Charles Molapisi added in a statement post the media visit. “Sometimes we have to rebuild the entire site,” he explains, with diesel theft, copper, battery and generator theft leading to extended periods of downtime as recovery teams work to repair the damage and bring in replacement batteries. Other items damaged and stolen are doors, containers, fences, security systems and locks. Often, once the batteries are stolen, vandals will strip the site of anything they believe could potentially be of value, including, for example, the components of on-site antennas. These trends are persisting across all regions in 2023. Overall, more than 1 000 vandalism incidents have been recorded over the past year in the Eastern Cape, with cable, battery, equipment and air conditioner theft all on the rise. While theft and vandalism are experienced across all provinces, the Eastern Cape is most affected at the moment, with data revealing that over 390 unique sites have been vandalised since January 2022, with criminals often returning to the same sites over five times after each repair.
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