Metro says vandalism hampers streetlight repairs despite increased efforts
Tshwane officials say streetlight repair teams are working weekly across the metro, but vandalism and cable theft are slowing progress. The metro plans to allocate additional resources to clear the backlog and improve lighting and safety ahead of winter.
MMC for Utility Services Frans Boshielo says Tshwane is rolling out a plan to ensure resources are available to repair large numbers of streetlights and clear the backlog ahead of the winter season.
He made the remarks following the State of the Capital Address (SOCA) on April 16.
Boshielo criticised the previous DA-led coalition, saying it left the metro with a significant backlog in the electricity and business unit.
He added that the city is now accelerating repairs, with teams fixing around 2 000 streetlights weekly across all seven regions of Tshwane.
“During the recent Mayoral committee meeting we have agreed and put a plan forward to roll out the streetlight repairs programme and to get resources so that we clear the backlog of streetlights by winter.”
He said the backlog is huge, but teams are on site on weekly basis to fix streetlights.
“We have started with repairing streetlights on our main roads to make the roads well-lit and safe.”
Boshielo urged residents to look after the infrastructure after repairs.
“We have a serious issue with people vandalising municipal infrastructure, especially on streetlights we repair then [three days later] people vandalise and steal cables, which sets us back.”
He said residents should play an active role in making sure that they report suspects or people vandalising or tempering with municipal infrastructure.
He further said when they took office they found that the city’s electricity infrastructure was in shambles.
“Our mini sub-stations, secondary and main sub-stations were not maintained and we have been working hard to address the long-standing issue of lack of maintenance by the previous government.”
Boshielo said his priority as he stepped in the portfolio was to upgrade and maintain infrastructure.
“Illegal settlements were left by our predecessor to mushroom and connect illegally to our electricity network which also have an impact on our infrastructure.”
He said the current coalition is currently refurbishing all electricity infrastructure.
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