Bad news for people who steal cellphone tower batteries in South Africa

A 39-year-old man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison by the Kimberley Regional Court for stealing batteries from mobile network base stations, the South African Police Services (SAPS) has announced.

After police received reports of battery theft from cellphone towers in the Delportshoop and Daniëlskuil areas between 2018 and 2019, an investigation was launched.

The Northern Cape Organised Crime Investigation Unit, then provincial head brigadier Johan Myburgh, and sergeant Orapeleng Mosala led the investigation, which resulted in the accused being traced and arrested in Gauteng.

The SAPS said the accused made several court appearances and was positively linked to three incidents of theft at cellphone towers. 

They were also found to be living in the country illegally, resulting in an additional two years being added to their sentence for contravening immigration laws. The total sentence was 47 years in prison.

The investigating team were commended for securing the conviction and sentence by Northern Cape Police Commissioner Lieutenant Koliswa Otola, who reiterated the prioritisation of policing crimes threatening critical infrastructure.

At the end of 2024, Vodacom appealed to communities to assist in its efforts to curb cellphone tower vandalism and battery theft.

This call was answered by the Kamberg community in KwaZulu Natal, who assisted in installing a second layer of security surrounding three Vodacom towers in the area.

“Critically, this will ensure uninterrupted access to connectivity benefits everyone in the area,” Vodacom said.

The partnership, which included local private security companies, also helped to apprehend two battery thieves.

“The community, working together with a private security company, apprehended two criminals that broke into Vodacom’s site in the area and successfully secured two stolen batteries from the thieves,” said Vodacom.

The South African Police Service encourages members of the public to report criminal activity by using the MySAPS App or by calling the Crime Stop hotline at 08600 10111.

Vandalism costing R550 million per year

Battery theft and vandalism left Vodacom and MTN having to cough up a combined R550 million in 2024.

Several years of severe load-shedding had necessitated that South Africa’s mobile operators install increased tower backup capacity to reduce the power cuts’ impact on customer connectivity.

Alongside copper cables and other valuable materials used in telecoms infrastructure, backup power equipment became a prime target for opportunistic thieves and organised syndicates.

Vodacom recently told MyBroadband that vandalism and theft can cost around R100 million per year, with repairs to a single site’s infrastructure amounting to over R70,000.

Similarly, MTN told MyBroadband in late 2024 that it had experienced close to 500 incidents of theft and vandalism, which ultimately cost R450 million to replace stolen batteries and damaged base stations.

These incidents included cable theft, battery theft, and the vandalism of battery safehouses.

These battery safehouses are vault-like structures built around the base station batteries to mitigate the damage caused by thieves.

“MTN South Africa is replacing copper cables with aluminium, which has a lower scrap value, and securing batteries with epoxy,” MTN told MyBroadband in December 2024.

At the same time, MTN South Africa said it was improving security structures and bunkers to delay potential breaches.

“So far this year, MTN has achieved 20 criminal convictions in 13 separate cases, with sentences ranging from 3 to 17 years,” it said.

According to Vodacom, base station vandalism and battery theft can leave hundreds of thousands of people without a means to communicate, as many rely on cellphone networks for this.

“Battery theft and vandalism at our base stations continue to be a huge challenge for the telco sector,” Vodacom Group’s chief risk officer recently told MyBroadband.

“The consequences go beyond the costs of repairing and restoring infrastructure. They have a significant impact on communities that depend on connectivity as a vital lifeline.”

This can also affect businesses and emergency services, where communication can be a matter of life and death.