Dolphin Coast shrouded in darkness

As the old Chinese proverb goes, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness – and this is something locals will be used to in dark roads where street lights seem to be a luxury.

Recent surveys by both the Ballito and Salt Rock neighbourhood watches revealed that a disturbing number of street lights are not working.

Of 60 roads surveyed in Salt Rock a full 30% of the street lights do not work, with not a single light functioning in Coral Place, Lindsay Drive or Scott Lane and more than 70% out of order in Lagoon Drive, Ralph’s Place, Ridge Road, Shrimp Lane and Valley Road.

Meanwhile, a survey by the Ballito Neighbourhood Watch (BNW) in February found 57 street lights not functioning properly.

Also read: Going nowhere slowly on Salt Rock Road

In Ellis Road the lights stayed on 24 hours a day, while the lights in Hawkins Road – from Minerva all the way down to Hops – do not work.

Eight of the lights in Hillary are out and in Sable Road, of 20 lights only three are operational.

“This is totally unacceptable,” said Salt Rock resident Kathryn Visagie.

“Not only is it dangerous for motorists and pedestrians at night, but it makes it easier for criminals to operate in the darkness.”

Over a period of three weeks, the Courier contacted KDM multiple times in an effort to discover what the schedule was for routine maintenance on street lights and when they were planning to tackle this issue.

There was no response to any of the queries by the time of publication.

Ward 22 councilor Malcolm Hubner said this was a major problem that required urgent attention.

“I spend half my life fielding calls about street lights, so it is a big issue.”

Hubner said as councilors they were putting pressure on KDM to tackle this problem.

He told the Courier that maintenance on street lights was carried out on a rotational schedule between the wards, so if they have just moved on from one area, work will first take place at all the other wards before coming back around.

“It has not made things easier that the municipal manager has put a virtual moratorium on all overtime at KDM,” said Hubner.

“It is a serious problem because on the one side we have professionals milking the overtime system to such an extent that KDM had to do something, while on the other we have this blanket moratorium which is obviously unworkable for things like electricity.”

Hubner explained that KDM no longer contracted work on street lights out, rather using KDM staff for the job.

“The municipality uses their own staff for these kinds of smaller fixes. Back when they still used contractors – this was more than a year ago – the unions got involved and were unhappy that KDM staff were not getting the work.”

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