Durban -Many roads in the eThekwini Municipality are in complete darkness at night while others are only lit by traffic lights. Some street lights remain on during the day.
This has been a complaint by residents for many years, with the municipality responding by saying the street lights were fitted with sensors enabling them to automatically switch on at night and off during the day, and attributed the fault to cable theft or vandalism.
Chatsworth resident Suren Ganapathie, 53, has reference numbers dating as far back as 2015 of complaints he made about street lights.
“If you take the on-ramp to go to Chatsworth Centre - that’s the Croftdene area - the only source of light is the robots, and a lot of muggings take place there during the night,” Ganapathie said.
“Last year, I saw some men digging along the highway but the lights are still not working. On Link Road, in Shallcross, light poles were installed opposite the informal settlements, but they haven’t been switched on as yet.”
Chatsworth CPF chairperson Jakes Singh said they had had numerous meetings with deputy mayors at the time who said every time they put in cables they were stolen.
He said when the CPF suggested solar power or placing lights on tall masts, so that there would be no theft, the municipality apparently said it was “too expensive”.
Singh said a lack of sufficient lighting encouraged crime.
“Especially at the robots at the Croftdene off-ramp at Chatsworth Station and surrounding areas such as the entrance to Link Road. We have a lot of muggings when vehicles stop at robots, and when commuters are walking to the train station they get mugged because it’s dark,” he said.
“When pedestrians want to cross the highway to get to the informal settlement, there are numerous accidents because of the darkness.”
Mandla Nsele, the municipality’s Deputy Head of Communications, said street lights could be malfunctioning because of cable theft or vandalism.
“In some areas street lights have been vandalised on multiple occasions and it is no longer viable to repair or replace the infrastructure as the likelihood of repeat vandalism is high.
“The municipality is currently evaluating various methods to overcome this challenge. The municipality’s electricity unit loses millions per annum on electricity and related infrastructure theft,” Nsele said.
He said the city used energy- efficiency technologies to conserve energy.
“The municipality has approximately 200000 street lights, the bulk of which are high-pressure mercury vapour and high-pressure sodium. A pilot project was run that saw the conversion of approximately 600000 old street lights with light-emitting diodes (LEDs). This resulted in a saving of approximately 680 000 kilowatt hours per annum,” he said.
Nsele said street lights switched themselves on at night and off during the day. If they did not switch off, it meant they were faulty and residents should report these lights to the city so they can be fixed.
Residents can call the electricity call centre at 080 1313 111 or the toll-free number 080 311 111.
