Out of order street lights a huge headache in the fight against crime
There is hardly a street in the town where there is not at least one light out of order
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be submitting a schedule of street lights that are out of order in eMalahleni; some of these lights have been out of order for up to 10 years.
“The fact that crime is escalating out of control can be attributed to the total collapse of the street lights in the city. There is hardly a street in the town where there is not at least one light out of order,” commented Cllr Lizelle Steyn chairperson of the DA Municipal Caucus.
“This breakdown in service delivery means that Emalahleni Local Municipality is indirectly aiding and abetting criminal activities”.
“It is little wonder that cable theft is one of the major causes of power failures throughout the residential areas. These areas are so dark due to the lack of street lights that the criminal elements have unhindered access to loot the cables at enormous cost to the ratepayers”.
Not only is the majority of street lights out of order, but of those that are in working order, they burn day and night.
Considering the amount of money owed to Eskom one would think that the municipality would use every means possible to reduce expenditure on electricity.
Ms Kim Faduk the DA candidate for the upcoming by-election in Ward 33 (Extensions 8, 16, and 41) complained about the number of damaged light poles that have been damaged and never repaired.
“These poles are just left to lie on the pavements, in some cases the electric cables are left exposed. This presents a further hazard to residents especially at night because the street lights in the whole area are out of order,” Faduk said.
Cllr Steyn said she will be following up on the matter of Evotel maintaining street lights as part of the agreement for being permitted to erect poles for their fibre cables.
Councillor Steyn called on the municipality to immediately table a plan of action on how they intended to address this matter. She added that the dangerous environment created by the lack of street lights was a further assault on the human rights of the residents as the constitution guarantees citizens “freedom and the security of person”.
WITBANK NEWS approached the municipality for comment, but by the time going to press there was no feedback.
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No streetlight after 10 years of begging
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