Rogue police officers, security guards and businesspeople who collude with izinyoka now face up to 30 years imprisonment.

Industry estimates put the cost of copper cable theft - which affects public infrastructure providing electricity, water, communications and transportation - at R10-billion a year but this has never been measured.

Government is introducing new criminal offences with stiffer sentences to curb the damage, tampering and destruction of essential infrastructure to sell its ferrous and non-ferrous components as second-hand scrap metal to dealers and agents.

Suspects arrested with stolen infrastructure components will get bail only in court and not through prosecutors and police officers, according to the Criminal Matters Amendments Bill.

Telkom has identified copper theft as one of its key challenges and, in the financial year ending in March, copper theft losses of R134-million were reclassified.

Copper theft decreased to R12.9-million in May from R13.6-million in April this year.

But the copper theft volume indicator increased to 180 metric tons in May 2015 from 179 metric tons in April 2015, according to the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (Sacci) monthly copper theft barometer.

Sacci tracks the value of cable theft from Eskom, Transnet and Telkom in its monthly barometer.

Eskom blames power failures partly on cable theft while another major cause is vandalism including stones, metal implements and other objects thrown at pylons and lines or shots fired at insulators that can cause damage.

Thieves steal overhead lines, underground cables, conductors, earthing equipment, transformers, pylon support lattices and steel from transmission towers.

As a result of the theft, a joint industry working group was formed by Eskom, Transnet, Telkom, the police, National Prosecuting Authority, Business Against Crime and Sacci to fight against this crime.

The fight against network equipment theft is through intelligence-driven investigations by the Hawks, encompassing aggressive policing of the scrap metal market for stolen goods.

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said they were making significant progress in the fight against cable theft.

"We're focusing on organised crime and targeting syndicates."

Mulaudzi said the unit recently confiscated copper cables that a syndicate was planning to ship overseas through the Durban port.

Some were returned to their rightful owners while others are being kept as exhibits for the criminal trial.

Mulaudzi said cable theft was a sophisticated crime but the Hawks had a special team dealing with it.

sidimbal@sowetan.co.za