The entire town’s dark streets are an open invitation for mischief.

The fact that every political party represented in the council acknowledges the crisis, since all have spoken and continue to speak on the issue, is alarming.

Residents in Ward 14, a ward run by the DA’s tireless Elsie Vermooten, are now demanding the repair of non-functional street lights.

The municipality’s high mast illumination preference, to replace the conventional street lights, is also not as foolproof as the municipality hints.

Vermooten disproved the high masts’ anti-tampering reputation with a video taken at the historic Gholfsig cemetery of a vandalised Apollo light.

The light will not be fixed because the fees for repairs are the same as for a brand-new light.

Up in arms, video after video and picture after picture on WhatsApp groups, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.

Vermooten said the Gholfsig and Clubville communities are united in their demand for a detailed emergency plan to address the crisis.

Though not alone in the dark, Gholfsig residents nowadays have to wait, often beyond midnight, for their rubbish to be collected.

If they don’t recover their bins, they are stolen, which is a fact the council also acknowledged.

It further poses a security threat for residents who often have to walk a block or two from their homes to retrieve their bins.

All the suburbs and other towns and villages within the municipal boundaries agree that the dark streets have now become a serious security issue.

Apart from an emergency plan to tackle the growing backlog, Vermooten said that a special budget must be made available.

The darkness aids and abets criminals in the scourge of town-wide gate motor thefts.

To address a spike in gate motor thefts, burglaries, and petty theft in Gholfsig, patrols have been increased.

Suburbs like Kanonkop and Dennesig have active patrols already, and little goes unseen in Eastdene, where the community have also unified.