Exclusive-How the illicit copper trade is sapping South Africa

FILE PHOTO: Container ships wait to load and offload goods in port during a 21-day nationwide lockdown aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cape Town, South Africa, April 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

(Reuters) - South Africa's economic woes are being compounded by the theft of massive amounts of copper from state firms Eskom and Transnet, much of which is smuggled overseas, costing the country billions of rand a year, according to market sources.

Power firm Eskom, which expects to make a 15.2 billion rand ($1.1 billion) net loss in its current financial year, told Reuters that "unrelenting" copper theft was costing it 5-7 billion rand annually, plus 2 billion rand a year to replace stolen cables.