TSUMEB: The Namibian Police Force (NamPol) in the Oshikoto Region is calling on NGOs, companies, and other stakeholders to come together to prevent crime in the region.
Regional Commander, Commissioner Theopoline Kalompo-Nashikaku in particular urged non-governmental organisations and private companies to come on board and create awareness in preventing crimes.
Kalompo-Nashikaku during a crime prevention stakeholder meeting held in Tsumeb on Wednesday said the police cannot solve crime alone; it needs stakeholders to help curb crime because having them on board will have a positive impact in society.
‘We cannot solve the crime alone, we need stakeholders to assist us in fighting crimes and safeguarding our society,’ she said.
Kalompo-Nashikaku said this after Dundee Precious Metal suffered from several copper wire theft incidents in the past 14 months. A total of seven cases were opened where suspects were arrested and several incidents were reported internally where no suspects were arrested.
She said t
hat copper wire theft is a serious problem in the town as Cenored regularly replaces copper wire.
Kalompo-Nashikaku also called on the public to not buy copper wire from any person.
‘People should not buy any copper wire from unlicensed business owners because they might also become culprits,’ she warned.
Dundee’s Protection Services and Emergency Response manager Jaco Haasbroek said the impact on the plant and community is that it caused an emergency shutdown due to water loss from the dam and powerplant.
He further said they lost production totalling an estimated loss of production revenue of N.dollars 22 million, electricity outages in town, and impact on other business revenue.
‘Our biggest challenge is the market owner of this copper wire theft and we want to kill the market for this culprit,’ said Haasbroek.
Law enforcement is planning to create awareness with stakeholders such as Telecom Namibia, Tsumeb Municipality, Dundee, Rubicon Security, Cenored, Ongopolo Mining, Office of the Prosecutor Gen
eral, and the local Neighbourhood Watch.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency