Metal robbers have struck for the second time at the City of Cape Town’s largest refuse transfer station, causing a temporary shutdown of operations and resulting in mountains of waste piling up on the premises.

On Tuesday night, August 5, the Athlone refuse transfer station (ARTS) was again raided by a gang which removed about 1 200 metal clips from the railway line linking the facility to the Vissershok landfill site, 20 km away.

"We rely heavily on this critical rail link to transfer about 1 000 tons of waste each day to the landfill. The pandoral clips that were stolen are used to secure the railway line to the sleepers. The clips are made of steel and were presumably stolen to be sold as scrap metal," says Riyaz Nakhwa, area manager in the City’s Solid Waste Disposal department.

"This is the second sabotage on ARTS’ critical rail link. In a similar incident a few weeks ago, a substantial number of rail clips were also stolen, damaging the rail line and blocking train access" says Nakhwa.

"A few months ago, the theft of switch gear caused a major derailment on the Du Noon line to Vissershok. During this incident, a Spoornet employee was fatally injured. This forced the waste transfer operation at ARTS to shut down for three days with a substantial increase in cost for solid waste operations," says Peter Novella, Manager of the City’s Solid Waste Disposal Department.

"There is a definite spike in criminal attacks on the City’s infrastructure and this is having a hugely detrimental effect on our service levels and operations at disposal facilities," says Novella.

Executive Mayor Helen Zille has now called on the City’s copper theft task team, widely known as the Copperheads, to urgently intervene at the highest level.

"The City of Cape Town owns at least 23 km of railway tracks in the Cape Metropole, which play a crucial service delivery role in key municipal operations such as solid waste management," says Cllr Pieter van Dalen, chairperson of the Copperheads.

"The theft of rail infrastructure is putting people’s lives at serious risk and threatening the safety of the community. This amounts to sabotage and when caught, perpetrators will feel the full might of the law.

"Anyone caught dealing with stolen Council property will suffer severe consequences. Scrap dealers approached to purchase these steel clips must report this immediately to the Copperheads," says Cllr van Dalen.

He again thanked Capetonians for their anonymous tip-offs and urged them to continue reporting any suspicious activity to the Copperheads’ toll-free hotline on 0800 222 771.


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ISSUED BY:
COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
CITY OF CAPE TOWN
TEL: 021 400 3719

MEDIA QUERIES:
COUNCILLOR PIETER VAN DALEN
CHAIRPERSON: COPPERHEADS TASK TEAM, CITY OF CAPE TOWN
CELL: 083 655 2203

PETER NOVELLA OR RIYAZ NAKHWA
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
CITY OF CAPE TOWN
TEL: 021 487 2477