The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) has introduced a “copper theft barometer” to try reduce the R5bn this crime costs the economy each year, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

“The barometer will measure and monitor the extent of copper cable theft in the country on a monthly basis [to raise] the general awareness of the crime,” said Peggy Drodskie, executive advisor to the Sacci CEO.

“The theft of copper is an important issue that does not bode well for the future of SA,” she said.

The R5bn cost only included the replacement value. It did not take into account security or labour costs, said Drodskie.

It also negatively impacted the economy through loss of productivity, negative investor perceptions and poor service delivery, among others.

“If you don’t have a telephone, computers, your staff can’t operate optimally,” Drodskie said. This could even lead to the closure of small businesses.

The barometer would reflect the experiences of Transnet, Telkom and Eskom, and would examine the previous six months preceding the release.

The first barometer found the average loss a month between April 2009 and October 2010 was R22,3m. Losses peaked in November 2009 at R46,4m and March this year at R47,2m.

“The trend generally is upwards … worryingly. We’re looking at the reason for the troughs and peaks.”

She said copper theft seemed to be driven by syndicates and appeared to be linked to the international copper price. Sacci would be investigating this further.

November 2010 saw a substantial improvement year-on-year compared to November 2009, with a 60% reduction in replacement cost.

“In recent months, replacement cost levels remained volatile, but at substantially lower levels than experienced earlier in 2010. The November level of R18m is less than a third of the March 2010 peak.” — Sapa