Frustrated Ratepayer of Van Riebeeck Park writes:
Residents of and motorists travelling along De Wiekus Road in Van Riebeeck Park had to contend with stretches of that road being without street lights for several weeks.
Lights are only along one side of the road. Two such stretches are from Aasvoël Avenue past Gazelle Avenue to Christoffel Street, and from Drakensberg Avenue to Maluti Street. Several residents, myself included, reported these outages several times to the municipality without success.
The problem was exacerbated on the night of January 30 when the annual Arwyp Neon Nite Race took place. This race has been run for many years, is well organised, very popular with and well supported by runners.
Motorists, pedestrians and residents alike are used to the kerbside lane of De Wiekus being coned off for the runners, that lane being on the opposite side of the road to where the street lights are situated.
This year, especially the stretch from Drakensberg Avenue to Bennie Jacobs Centre, with there being no street lights working, was, in my opinion, more frustrating for motorists and possibly dangerous for the runners, as the coned lane was in virtual darkness.
We understood from our ward councillor that, over the festive period, repairing faulty street lights isn’t considered a priority by the municipality. This means new complaints are added to the older ones, meaning the electricity department has a growing backlog to try to fix it and seemingly not enough hours in the day to do so.
Residents understand that if, for example, transformers blow up and catch fire, or substations suffer major breakdowns, fires, or theft of components, these affect greater numbers of residents than perhaps one mere streetlight being inoperative, and need to be given priority. That is as it should be.
But according to the municipality’s customer service standards, a single street light failure or a street light section failure should be rectified in two working days. Would the municipality care to respond to residents’ concerns?
Themba Gadebe, metro spokesperson, replies:
The lights could not be fixed due to a temporary material shortage and the volume of work that had to be carried out at the time.
Theft and vandalism of supply cables and substations result in street lights being out. The lights in question had since been repaired.
