Eastleigh resident Fred Fourie has raised concerns about wasteful spending and poor service from Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
Fourie said for the past five weeks, five street lights near the corner of Cunningham Road and Beverley Avenue have been on day and night.
Also read: Resident upset over lack of response to streetlight complaints
“The first time I saw the lights on I thought EMM were doing tests. A week later when the lights were still on I called the municipality to report the matter on September 28 but nothing was done about it,” said Fourie.
He said when he phoned the call centre to follow up they were surprised the issue hadn’t been attended to.
“The call centre was very helpful. Each time I phoned they said they would pass on the information,” said Fourie.
Fourie phoned Ward 92 Clr Tiziana Plaskitt for additional assistance.
Also read: JRA plans to replace traffic circles with traffic lights
He said he left a voice message and an SMS asking for assistance but received no response from Plaskitt.
Plaskitt said she did not mean to ignore Fourie and is attending to the matter.
“I try to respond to residents’ concerns to the best of my ability,” said Plaskitt.
She said since she was made aware of the lights, she has met with the customer care manager to try to resolve the matter.
Plaskitt said street lights in that area seem to be a problem.
“Street lights left on 24/7 can be costly to the EMM,” said Plaskitt
Fourie said the lights were still burning on October 25.
“Electricity is being wasted and as a taxpayer I am worried about who will pay the electricity bill,” said Fourie.
He said he is concerned about the lack of service from the municipality.
EMM spokesperson for the EMM Themba Gadebe said the matter had been attended to.
“All burnt components were replaced,” he said.
“The daylight switch is designed to remain in the normal closed position should the day-night switch fail. This avoids the problem of lights in the area being off,” Gadebe said.
For more news and interesting articles, like Bedfordview and Edenvale NEWS on Facebook or follow us on Twitter
