Resource Management - Letter to a Representative

The Honorable Mr. Mohamed Kamal Mansura
Room E139, Parliament Building
South African National Assembly
PO Box 25, Cape Town, 8000

Dear Secretary,
I realize the problems the National Assembly of South Africa face are extensive, yet another issue must be raised. The amount of copper theft that occurs, not only in Africa but worldwide, is rising and the threat of cities losing power just so a criminal can make a few hundred dollars is absurd. I realize that South Africa is not the only country to have the problem, although it has one of the highest rates of copper theft worldwide. If South Africa found a solution that would drastically reduce theft rates, the world would use it as an example.

If you’re assumption is that this is just a phase that the world’s going through with global recessions etc, you are mistaken. A Bloomberg article stated that copper is predicted to rise in demand, and therefore value, by 8-10% in the next year. China’s growing industry is the culprit. “Prices have more than tripled in the past four years as China built more homes, cars and appliances.” (Bloomberg) Copper’s boost in value and availability has led to an international crime wave, one that won’t be dispersed any time soon without proper action.

Africa has incredible amounts of unrefined resources waiting to be refined and sold; all it needs is some organization. Government employees pull precious metals out of the ground and as soon as it’s put to use, it’s stolen. This system has been going on since some African regions have started to be colonized and industrialized. The colonizers didn’t realize is they had to clean up all the wars, hunger, and famine before they started profiting. Poor planning turned Africa’s industrialization into a nightmare. With the help of the African country’s leaders, however, we can solve it.

You may be familiar with a group of federal employees in Cape Town, South Africa called The Copper Heads. They are a specialized task force with the sole purpose of preventing and retaliating against copper theft. This is a great step forward, but the issue has not yet been solved. These workers now work to stop copper theft when it happens, but a real solution would be to settle the issues before they happen.
Boys as early as six years old are forced into rebel armies and gangs in parts of Northern Africa. Young men with rifles scourge the countryside looking for blood or money in small militias. Often these people experience famine or poverty as children, and the rebel armies turn them against the government. What better way to turn a young man in the right direction than to give him a job, housing, and peace of mind. If the African government were to organize a program to give jobs to young men and women refining the vast amount of raw resources, the people’s faith in government would be restored.

The program would call for hundreds of workers per site, and would put billions of dollars worth of precious metals into Africa’s hands. Not only would African countries rise out of their third world situation, but families would have the means to start farms, build houses and live as humans should live. The population of Africa has long lived in fear. Fear of rebel armies taking their young boys in the night, fear of their infant child dying of hunger, fear of their spouse having to face AIDS. Africa has had to face some of the worst challenges to dat. This program will give Africa a small sigh of relief, one that has been deserved for years.

Sincerely,
Samuel E. Graye.