The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) and the Scrap Metals Association believe an unregulated scrap metals trade, which has emerged outside the association’s membership, is fueling vandalism of Escom property by providing a readily available market for stolen Escom property. But as our business journalist Justin Mkweu writes, the police say they have yet to find that link.
Gabriel Meka vividly recalls the day his butchery business began to collapse.
The 43-year-old had opened his business at Nchalo in Chikwawa in 2021. Then suddenly, everything changed in the early hours of May 19, 2024, when the power went out.
“Blackouts are not a new thing, I thought it was just one of those blackouts,” he recalled. “But no, it was not.”
A day passed without electricity restored. By the second day, his concern grew as his meat stock had begun to spoil.
After noticing that there was no electricity for two days, he contacted Escom, only to learn that the outage had been caused by vandalism.
“I was told that it may take time for electricity to be restored. I just sold the meat to Chiwaya traders who bought it at very low prices because it had started going bad,” he complained. “By the time electricity was back, my capital had gone, fridges sold, business abandoned. Vandals robbed me of my economic livelihood.”
It was later discovered that vandals took wooden poles, pans of aluminium conductor and line accessories belonging to Escom.
Meka’s experience is far from unique.
Incidents about stolen Escom properties, such as transformers and power cables, are not new.
Equally common are the ripple effects: people dying in hospitals, loss of livelihoods, and communities plunged into prolonged darkness.
Again, stories about Escom spending billions replacing vandalised properties are too familiar.
Each year. These stories are told in the media, at funerals, in churches, at gatherings, and in all other places one can imagine. Yet, this has done little to deter some people from vandalising Escom property, costing the utility service provider billions of Kwachas.
Escom Chief Public Relations Officer Pilirani Phiri says the electricity distributor spends an estimated K3 billion in replacing vandalised property. According to Phiri, vandalism is fueled by the unregulated scrap metals market, which provides a readily available market for the stolen property.
“These illegal acts disrupt our operations by diverting scarce resources away from new connections towards the constant replacement of stolen infrastructure,” Phiri said. “In turn this leads to prolonged power outages for our customers.”
To confirm that the market is fueling the vandalism of Escom property, recently, two individuals were caught with stolen Escom property which they disguised as scrap heading for the scrap metals market.
The scrap metals market is currently unregulated in the country. However, there is an association consisting of scrap metal traders which has membership across the country.
Southern Region Scrap Association Executive Member James Chalera admits that the scrap metals trade provides a readily available market to vandals of Escom property.
Chalera says that as they are trying to curb the vice, they have introduced a membership identity to easily trace those buying Escom property and bring them to book.
He alleges, however, that a parallel market from their association, led by foreign nationals, has emerged, which is buying scrap at higher prices, and this market is beyond their control, and probably only law enforcers can help.
“We have our eyes on them because we want to take away their business papers, as we do not know where they got them, because we are tired of the lack of action on them,” he said.
While the link between the market and vandalism has been confirmed by both Escom and scrap metal traders, and they are both banking on the police, the police are sceptical of this link and say it has not been established from their operations.
Spokesperson for the South West Police Division, Beatrice Mikuwa, describes this established link as speculation.
“The link can be there, but as police, we cannot say we have discovered that relationship,” Mikuwa said. “However, there is speculation that people who vandalise property take it to the scrap metals market.”
The police are a legally instituted law enforcer with four main goals when it comes to preventing crime.
The first is retribution, the second is rehabilitation, the third is deterrence, while the last is incapacitation or removing danger from society.
In this case, Escom and the scrap metals association have banked their hopes on the police to help in dealing with the vandalism of Escom property.
Escom and scrap metal traders are now looking to law enforcement to take decisive action, arresting perpetrators, tightening oversight of the scrap market, and ensuring offenders face justice.
Such measures, they argue, would not only deter would-be vandals but also protect critical infrastructure and livelihoods.
As the saying goes, nip it in the bud. The only way to deal with the vandalism of electricity supply property is to crack down on the scrap metals market by making sure that they do business in accordance with the law.
If that does not happen, stories about stolen Escom properties, such as transformers and power cables, will not stop.
The consequences are severe: lives lost in hospitals, households cut off from basic needs, and communities deprived even of entertainment.
Worse still, Escom will continue to lose billions of kwacha replacing vandalised infrastructure.
And for people like Meka, the cost will remain painfully personal.
