Thousands of street lights in and around Boksburg have been reported as dysfunctional due to a lack of maintenance that has left the city’s streets in darkness at night.
According to residents who reported the fault to the metro on numerous occasions, the street lights along some streets and major roads haven’t worked since last year.
Following such complaints, the Advertiser recently visited various parts of Boksburg and discovered that the city’s network of street lights is in a terrible mess, with a great many street lights not working. We also found that in some areas it’s not just one light here and there that is faulty, but all the lights along an entire road.
Ward 32 Clr Marius de Vos and many ratepayers who are fed up with the metro’s lack of response said they have made the same observation, resulting in numerous calls and emails to the relevant municipal department.
“There is a growing concern over street lights in different parts of Boksburg. In some areas I found that the lights are not working properly and in some cases they are completely out,” said de Vos.
“Many people have reported the issue to the municipality and I also tried to get the divisional head to do something. However, apart from acknowledging that they have received my messages, all he has done is make empty promises that he will see to it that the Boksburg energy team attends to the problem.
“It’s clear that our pleas for the municipality to fix its many broken lights are being ignored, and it doesn’t look like the necessary repairs will be carried out soon,” said de Vos.
The residents who live on the affected streets are complaining that the darkness is attracting unwelcome visitors, including criminals who usually strike after dark. According to the councillor, some of the residents have reported that muggings in their areas have been escalating daily due to the situation.
“The safety of residents has been compromised and this is due to lack of service delivery by the municipality. The poor lighting is without a doubt putting residents at risk when they walk through their neighbourhoods at night,” said de Vos. “Some people have indicated that they no longer feel safe, because the streets get so dark that seeing who or what is in front of you is difficult, if not impossible.”
The areas most affected, which include the Boksburg CBD, are the entire Leeuwpoort Street from the Rondebult intersection to President Brandt and Leeuwpoort intersection; Jubilee Street from the Leeuwpoort intersection to Van Dyk Road; large sections of Commissioner Street from Trichardts Road intersection to Absa bank and Kruger and Commissioner street intersection to Leeuwpoort; Kruger Street; the entire Boksburg East where solar lights were installed last year but were stolen; Van Riebeeck Street in Boksburg South; Reinet Street in Boksburg South Extension; Dudley Smith Road; Trichardts Road from Truter Street intersection to Cason Road; the stretch of Main Reef Road from Rondebult Road until Knights railway station; Wit Deep Road; Field Road, and several streets in Plantation, Parkrand and Farrar Park.
Residents agree that the municipality is dragging its feet.
Nadia Bubb said she obtained a reference number from the call centre early last month when she reported that the lights on Morton Crescent’s street lights in Parkdene were not working, but nothing has been done.
“Please can you intervene and put pressure as this has been down for the last three months,” she said.
Tjaart Pretorius said he recently made the council aware of the faulty street lights on major routes in Witfield, but no action has been taken. The affected areas include Pretoria Road from Field Road to the N12 freeway. All Pretorius received was the reference number: 3776820.
“We as residents and ratepayers are now getting fed up with this situation. Our town is dirty, our infrastructure is falling apart and the Ekurhuleni metro is not taking care of its responsibilities,” said Pretorius.
While some parts of the city are without working lights, there are some streets that have lights burning day and night. These include the street lights on the stretch of Commissioner Street between Trichardts Road and New Beginnings Care Centre.
In our previous report, we were told that the lights are sometimes kept on during the day to stop thieves from stealing the cables.
The Advertiser is awaiting comment from the metro.
