The South African Press Association (Sapa) was forced to halt editorial operations on Tuesday after its telephone cables were stolen — the second time the national news agency had been hit by criminals in less than a year.
”Apparently there was cable theft in the Linden area (near the Sapa head office in Johannesburg),” said news editor Sipke de Vries.
”Our telephones, our direct lines, our faxes, our websites are all down. Our regional offices in Cape Town and Pretoria are also down because they file through Johannesburg,” De Vries said.
”We are still trying to get information from the police but it could take the whole day before we would be up and running again.”
Almost a year ago, a gang of armed men robbed Sapa’s Johannesburg office of vital computer equipment after overpowering a guard at the gate and holding up journalists on the midnight shift. – AFP
