Govan Mbeki Municipality fails to fix street lights
AfriForum in Secunda wants feedback and an action plan.
AfriForum’s Secunda branch once again sent letters to the Govan Mbeki Municipality about service delivery issues and delivered the same letter by hand.
This time, AfriForum highlighted their concern about streetlights in Secunda and the surrounding towns that are not working.
Jan du Plessis, the chairperson of the AfriForum Secunda branch, said, “This negatively impacts the safety and security of residents in our towns.
“In most streets, only one of two streetlights is working, if any. Our constitution entitles us to a safe and harmless environment. Is the Govan Mbeki municipal area excluded from the constitution of South Africa?”
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Du Plessis also sent a list of the defective streetlights to the municipality, as well as records of reporting the faulty streetlights.
He further said if the streets are so dark, vagrants can easily hide behind trees and bushes and it allows house burglaries to get out of control.
“The security firms cannot keep up with all the calls on most nights,” said Du Plessis.
“Neighbourhood watch patrols are also helping to curb the crime rate. Most of the volunteers driving patrols have full-time jobs, but we do this to keep our families safe.”
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According to Du Plessis, the municipality blames vandalism for the defective street lights. However, no one reported it to the police.
“Tampering with the infrastructure is a serious crime, yet the municipality leaves it aside. Not reporting the vandalism and tampering with the municipality’s infrastructure, is also a crime.
“We should hold the applicable management accountable and demand feedback and a plan of action from the municipality.”
In the letter, AfriForum asked the municipality why they did not follow up with their complaints, if the municipality kept records of job cards to plan the repairs, how they do repairs with no recorded defects and how it is possible to budget for the repairs if no assessment is made of the defects.
The municipality has not responded to AfriForum’s letters at the time of going to print.
