AN ENGAGEMENT between the head of the electricity department and councillor André Beetge took place recently to address street lights that have been out of order for months, and in some cases, years.

Beetge said it became clear that it was not only area-specific, but a problem that affects the entire city.

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“With more than 400 000 street lights that need to be serviced and maintained, the stark reality emerged that indeed there was no provision whatsoever allocated towards street light maintenance in the 2023/24 budget,” said Beetge.

When the budget was originally drafted and taken out for public consultation, the proposed tariff increase was reflected just above 21% with sufficient allocation towards street lights. But given public outcry, the increase was cut back to just over 18% which resulted in a budget cut of R550 million. The further reduction to 15.1% in alignment with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa equated to another R560 million reduction in revenue and subsequently the exclusion of street light maintenance.

“We are however locked in discussions to establish some compromises in an effort to attend main arterial routes, intersections and areas where faulty street lights are compromising road safety and municipal infrastructure that equates to additional expenditure across the city,” said Beetge.

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