For residents living along Sophiatown’s Gibson Street, nightfall has become something to fear, rather than embrace.

The stretch of road running from Gibson Street to Victoria Road, and beyond the nearby school, has been left without functioning streetlights, forcing residents to avoid walking outside after dark and raising growing concerns about safety in the area.

Resident Riaan Greeff said the problem has persisted despite numerous reports to City Power, with residents repeatedly logging complaints since February. According to Greeff, little has changed despite more than 10 complaints being submitted through the appropriate channels. The prolonged outage has had a noticeable impact on daily life, with residents saying transport services are becoming reluctant to enter the area at night over concerns over criminal activity.

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He explained that residents have few options beyond continuing to report the fault, as any attempt to access or repair electrical infrastructure themselves could amount to tampering with municipal property. Greeff said the community’s main request is straightforward: Restore the streetlights before conditions deteriorate further.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena stated that they are aware of the faulty streetlights. “The streetlight faults were first logged in February 2026, following the theft of streetlight cables in the area. The matter remains on the city’s repair programme, and the Hursthill service delivery centre continues to monitor progress towards restoring the affected streetlights.”

Mangena stated that the outage was caused by the theft of 4mm GP streetlight cables. He highlighted that cable theft remains one of the leading causes of streetlight failures across Johannesburg, resulting in prolonged outages and increased repair costs. “In this instance, the stolen cables disrupted the electricity supply to the affected streetlights, making replacement of the stolen infrastructure necessary before the lights can be restored. It is worth noting that managing more than 300 000 streetlights across the City of Johannesburg remains a substantial undertaking.”

Also read: Partial restoration of streetlights amid ongoing theft challenges

He said, while every effort is made to tend to reported faults, delays may occassionally occur due to the availability of specialised materials, complexity of repairs, or repeated incidents of cable theft and vandalism to steal valuable components, including aerial bundle conductor (ABC) cables and luminaire parts. “These stolen components are often used to facilitate illegal electricity connections. Criminal syndicates operating within some communities utilise stolen ABC cables to establish unauthorised parallel electricity distribution networks, supplying illegally obtained electricity to households and businesses in exchange for monthly payments. In addition, this is also frequently used to bypass meters, enabling further electricity theft.”

The utility said repeated cable theft and vandalism across Johannesburg have delayed repairs due to a shortage of replacement material, although supply has recently improved. Repair teams are working through a citywide backlog and are expected to restore the affected streetlights in the coming weeks. He added that vandalised streetlights often create opportunities for crimes such as robberies, burglaries, and vehicle hijackings, and that it is investing in more resilient, off-grid LED lighting to improve public safety and reduce future vandalism.

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