City Power restores 17 of 19 vandalised streetlights on Ballyclare Drive

City Power has confirmed that 17 of the 19 streetlights affected by vandalism and cable theft along Ballyclare Drive in Bryanston have now been restored.

The latest update comes after residents, and Ward 103 councillor Lynda Shackleford, raised concerns earlier this year about non-functional streetlights along the busy route. The councillor warned that poor lighting posed safety and security risk to residents, especially as winter approached and daylight hours shortened.

Read more: The high cost of power theft: Why Johannesburg’s honest customers keep paying the price

In April, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena confirmed that only eight of 19 affected streetlights had been repaired, while the remaining 11 required extensive work after being damaged by vandalism. The utility cited shortages of specialised replacement materials as one of the reasons for the delays.
Providing an update on the matter on June 4, Mangena said the utility’s public lighting teams had made significant progress since then. “As of May 11, City Power successfully repaired and restored 17 of the 19 affected streetlights. The remaining two streetlights are still non-operational as they have sustained extensive damage and require full replacement.

“The repairs form part of City Power’s ongoing efforts to restore public lighting infrastructure impacted by vandalism and cable theft. While the majority of the affected lights have now been repaired and are operational, work continues to secure the necessary resources and complete the replacement of the remaining damaged units.”

Mangena added that the entity remains concerned about the continued impact of vandalism and theft on critical infrastructure, which not only affects service delivery but also places additional financial and operational pressures on restoration programmes. “We therefore continue to work closely with law enforcement agencies, community structures, and other stakeholders to protect public assets and improve response times to infrastructure-related incidents.”

Also read: Bryanston streetlight outages expose wider challenge for City Power

Despite the progress reported by City Power, Shackleford said residents are still experiencing problems with streetlights in the area. “It is disappointing that we are still waiting for three streetlights, two that have been hit by cars and one still doesn’t have a globe, on Ballyclare Drive.

“Coleraine Drive still doesn’t have streetlights and the at top part of Ballyclare Drive, between Coleraine and Outspan roads, the lights don’t work. We raised this issue with them in February, saying that it was going to start getting dark by 17:00 at night and it was incredibly dangerous. Safety and security in the area is of vital importance during winter.”

While acknowledging the repairs that have been completed, Shackleford said she is hoping that City Power will put more focus into streetlights outages. “It takes months to get anything done. I’m hoping that City Power will put more focus into streetlights, but I don’t know how they’re going to catch up because they are literally just touching the surface. More and more streetlights are going out.”

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