Vodacom, Cell C and MTN have signed an agreement with national police commissioner Jackie Selebi to blacklist all stolen cellphones, in a bid to stop cellphone theft.
The deal was signed at a ceremony in Pretoria today.
People can now blacklist stolen phones, which will reduce them to expensive paperweights, says S`bu Mngadi, chief corporate strategy officer at Cell C.
"Until now there has been no uniformly applied blacklisting of stolen cellphones, most of them being 'grey`-listed, which means that the SIM cards were blocked but not the cellphone handsets," says Selebi.
"Criminals could simply change SIM cards and continue using the handsets," he adds.
Selebi committed the police to extending the initiative into the rest of southern Africa. "Cross-border theft is a big problem," he says.
Selebi also advised people to report stolen cellphones.
"Those people who do not report stolen cellphones are unwittingly aiding and abetting criminals who often use those phones during the commission of serious and violent crimes."
"New legislation, which will be put into operation in the future, will make it compulsory for persons to report loss, theft or destruction of cellphones to the SAPS," he adds.
The procedure for blacklisting is as follows:
* Notify cellphone operator of loss and following verification, the phone will be blacklisted.
* A blacklisting number is then furnished to the owner. This must be given to the SAPS when the cellphone is reported stolen.
* Police register the theft and station commissioners provide information on reported cellphones to a national co-ordinator.
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