The first month of the new year has already flown by and Christmas is fading into the past, but the Xmas spirit is still alive and well if you drive through Murchison Street and CBD at night.
The fancy, multi-coloured Christmas lights that were put up in the main street to celebrate the festive season are still up and shine bright for motorists who happen to be in the heart of the CBD after sunset. These lights are most prevalent outside the Town Hall building, wishing you a Merry Christmas… And we’re already in February!
Many people have commented that, yes, these lights are great during the festive season, but we are already into the second month of 2018, so shouldn’t they be relegated to storage until Xmas spirit rolls around again in 10 months’ time?
The burning question on everyone’s lips is: Doesn’t anybody who works at the municipality see that these lights are on during the night and are still up even after Christmas has long passed us by.
Members of the community are angered by the fact that many streets in Ladysmith face the problem of streetlights not working, yet these Christmas lights that serve no purpose are working perfectly.
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Residents living in Centenary Road, Protea Drive and Daffodil Crescent have had no streetlights for months on end and live in complete darkness at nighttime. They fear for their lives if they get home after the sun has gone down, as everything is pitch-black and they can’t see anything at all while driving into their yards.
“We are easy targets to be robbed or even hijacked right outside our homes.”
Local resident Anton Bakker commented that the Christmas lights should have been taken down by now, as they are costing ratepayers’ money and wasting electricity. He added that Christmas lights are not a priority, yet things that should be a priority are just swept aside.
At the time of going to press, the municipality had failed to comment on the matter.
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