24 Nov 2022

The rising copper cable theft negates the national policy implementation and disrupts the development agenda, Minister of Communications, Knowledge and Technology Mr Thulagano Segokgo has said.

Responding to a question in Parliament, Mr Segokgo said if it continued unabated, the situation carried a high potential of hindering the aspirational objective of becoming a high-income country.

“The total cost associated with cable theft and vandalism of communication infrastructure currently stand at P43 million, which escalates annually at an unprecedented rate,” he said, noting that this had significant adverse implications for the financial sector, which depends on mobile telephony to reach the unbanked and under served communities.

He said cable theft eroded productivity efficiency realised from deploying infrastructure and offering community services online as well as the implementation of the working-from-home approach that was adopted by employers to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The Minister said through the National ICT Policy called Maitlamo, government had long committed to exploiting digital technologies’ power, reach, versatility and agility to achieve socio-economic development.

He noted that government had also made impressive strides in implementing Maitlamo by deploying network infrastructure and enacting necessary legal frameworks.

Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central, Mr Tumisang Healy had asked the minister to explain the impact of the escalating incidents of copper cables on the country’s national objective of digital transformation and Maitlamo. ENDS