plane fool

Fuel suddenly a hot number
Esther Lewis
LOCK up your trucks, tractors and fuel pumps, as you may become the victim of the latest crime trend.
The cost of fuel has almost doubled since a year ago.
In Cape Town, petrol costs R9,72 per litre, and diesel will set you back even more.
These prices brought along desperate times, but obviously new opportunities for criminals as well.
On Wednesday and Thursday, 18 and 19 June, thieves made off with over 1 000 litres of diesel.
Wednesday night, 300 litres were stolen from three trucks and a bulldozer on a Philippi farm.
On another farm, seven 20 litre containers of oil were swiped.
The following evening, another business in the Philippi farming area was targeted.
The company was robbed of about 800 litres of diesel. The diesel pump was also damaged in an apparent attempt to get more fuel.
It was also reported two weeks ago that drivers had filled up their tanks at service stations, then sped off without paying for their petrol.
A reader told People’s Post that he was approached by two men in the street, offering him petrol for R5 per litre.

rainbow nation

Editorial cartoon for the People's Post 17th June 2008

home loan boffins

Corporate work for Absa

motor mayhem

black and white illustrations for a motoring manual.

ho hummer

WITH predictions that the price of petrol could rocket to R16 a litre should the price of a barrel of oil reach the $200 mark, motorists are looking at their vehicles in a new light. Cartoonist Gavin Thomson sees a somewhat unusual means of surviving the time ahead ...

Editorial cartoon for the People's Post 10 June 2008

stealing steel

Editorial cartoon Peoples Post 3rd June 2008

Everything, especially the kitchen sink
Esther Lewis

AS if copper thieves have not caused enough headaches, the fiends have now acquired a feel for steel.
Due to scarcity, the price of steel went up in April to R2,50 per kilogram – not much compared to the price of copper, which fetches an average of R35 per kilogram (with some scrap traders willing to fork out up to R60).
Even so, there has been an increase in theft of privately-owned steel objects, says Pieter van Dalen, the chairperson of the Copper Theft Unit – also known as the Copperheads. “These people will steal anything, even if it’s not valuable” he says.
To attest to this, a Grassy Park resident spoke of how even pot plants left outside had disappeared from their property.
There have been reported cases of security gates, fences even street poles and light posts being whisked off. Poles, which are cemented into the ground, are sawed off at the base, then carried off.