We had a lot of discussions on this forum on base station battery theft, it is getting out of hand.

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/telecoms/338500-battery-theft-epidemic-in-south-africa.html?source=newsletter

Not to come across insensitive, but I believe from other sources, and reading the article/watching the MTN Sponsored videos, this will NOT stop or decline any time soon.

If SA cannot tackle the root cause of this issue, I do not see any decline in these thefts in the foreseeable future.

For as long as our Government and it's allies (read SOE's/ESKOM) continue with their inability to provide power, the status quo would most likely remain unchanged.

YES, by catching these criminals stealing and damaging, or prosecuting the end user will give some satisfaction, but in the end will only amount to a minuscule percentage advance.

Then also with this thief out of circulation, his place will be taken up by the next in no time.

Even MTN admit that our "Load Shedding Schedule" enables these thieves to know exactly where to hit, and when to hit, all under the protection of the dark situation that Government and Eskom has conveniently provided for their trade.

If they can get their act together, this issue is addressed on so many fronts:

The cover of darkness will be eliminated,

The market requirement for such batteries would decrease, although not totally to zero,

The Economy should pick up and people would rather procure batteries at standard prices rather than "I can get batteries cheap cheap" ?

R