Residents in Silverton, Equestria and Meyerspark have raised concerns about long-standing issues with non-functioning streetlights.
The residents claim that some streets have been left in darkness for between five and 10 years despite repeated reports to the City of Tshwane.
Residents said that with December approaching, crime will spike, and the lack of streetlights will make matters worse.
They claim streetlights used to work during the day and night two years ago in many areas, but the streets are now pitch-black.
According to residents, De Boulevard Street, Krige Street and Pretoria Road in Silverton, as well as Piet Low Street in Die Wilgers, have been without functioning streetlights for years.
Residents in Meyerspark have also identified Odendaal Street, Dykor Street, Fakkel Street, Erasmus Street and Kritzinger Street as roads where streetlights are not working, despite being busy routes.
Meanwhile, residents on Jasmyn Avenue in Silverton claim they have been without streetlights for more than five years.
An elderly resident, Jannie de Beer, who has lived in Silverton for more than 60 years, said he had been reporting streetlight issues since 2023.
“This is troubling because we are at risk of being mugged or robbed,” said De Beer. “We have been reporting the issues to the municipality but with no luck.
“We are elderly people; we report this every time, and no one bothers to come to fix any issue.”
He said he reported his streetlights on February 22, 2023, but no one came to repair them, and the reference number was closed.
De Beer said he reported it again on March 10, 2023, and after weeks, the reference number was closed without the issue being fixed.
“Our streetlight is still not working from that time I reported,” he added. “I gave up on the municipality because you report and they just close the reference number or give no response.”
Dark streets spark safety fears
Another resident, Zelda Fourie-Steenkamp, said the prolonged streetlight outages create a safety concern.
“Criminals take advantage of poorly lit streets to target motorists, pedestrians and nearby properties,” she said.
She said streetlights in her area worked day and night about three years ago and were never switched off, even during the day, but the streets are now pitch-black.
“We are heading into the festive season and some people will be travelling for vacations, so with streets this dark, it actually gives criminals an opportunity to operate,” Fourie-Steenkamp added. “The sad part is that we do report these streetlights.”
Matt Beale said: “We have not had consistently working streetlights for a long time, with some residents reporting up to 10 years that the lights have not worked.”
Beale said Alpha Security Forum has a Community Upliftment Precinct agreement with the city, where it requested approval to install solar streetlights at its own cost, but has received no feedback since discussions began in June.
Despite sending an enquiry to the City of Tshwane on October 8 and following up several times, it has received no response.
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