Non-functional lights leave many in the lurch in Likazi

The festive season is here and some bustling streets and walkways in KaNyamazane do not have lighting.

Some community members of this township voiced their concerns over these non-working streetlights that have been broken for over three months.

Some of these streetlights are located on the busy KaNyamazane Road between eNtokozweni and the MRTT Hospitality and Tourism Academy Hotel, and others on Chris Hani Street.

Lowvelder Express had a conversation with some residents who said they fear for their safety, especially when it gets dark.

One of them, Mduduzi Mokoena, said some of the streetlights stopped working more than three month ago.

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“The lights started flickering on and off, then eventually went off completely. There are community members who have reported the issue to the City of Mbombela, but nothing was done. The municipality needs to hire people who will be responsible for making sure that community lights work and are serviced. We cannot keep complaining about the same things over and over, especially when community safety is involved,” he said.

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said the streetlights only light up for a short time, then go off again.
“We were happy when they were installed with the hope that they would provide us with light and some sort of safety. It has been quite long since they stopped working. It affects our safety, because there is a church here and we don’t feel safe when we have to attend evening services. The municipality cannot let us live in the dark like this,” they said.

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This publication approached the City of Mbombela’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, with some questions, including when the streetlights would be fixed.

“We are working on the plan to repair them. We just have a large number of streetlights to repair at the moment,” he said.