Half a year of darkness

“Street lights, glowing, happen to be just like moments passing in front of me,” singer Kanye West croons in the popular hit Streetlights.

This should be Komatie Street in Emmarentia’s theme song.

“Komatie street has been in darkness since the beginning of January,” Tinneke Wulfers, who lives in the street, said on 11 June.

“We have almost no street lights. And this is a long and rather busy road. It would be pitch dark here if it weren’t for our house and gate lights.”

Wulfers is concerned about more than darkness. “It’s a security risk and we’re not getting the service we pay for. I’ve reported it three times, I’ve called the Star newspaper and our councillor, Pat Brugman-Richards.”

After initially reporting the matter, the lights were fixed for one day at the end of February, and then, Wulfers explained, they were plunged into darkness again.

Wulfers asked CAP (Community Active Protection) security (who patrol the area) to do a count of working street lights on their nightly patrol. They reported that two thirds of the lights in the surrounding area were out.

“I think these things happen and aren’t fixed because we act individually. We should unite. Unity in the community creates strength. But people these days aren’t proactive, they seem beaten down by life, disheartened by non-responsive by street lights and by faulty services. They’re too dispirited to stand up and fight. That’s not right,” she lamented.

City Power spokesperson Sydney Mphahlele said that lights in Komatie street and adjacent streets would be attended to, and that the project would be finished by the end of this week.

“It’s the strangest thing,” Wulfers amended on 17 June. “I’ve now noticed that two-thirds of Komatie street and Letaba street in Emmarentia still have no street lights. But the other third has street lights shining 24/7 – even in the day time.”