Report street light outages, urges Durban councillor

WARD 33 councillor Mmabatho Tembe is appealing to the public to continue reporting street light outages following numerous complaints from the community.

A resident has made an appeal for urgent intervention in restoring street lights in Garner Lane, Bulwer, stating the lights have been off for quite some time and this has become a safety issue as the road is very dark at night.

He said he had been trying to get assistance from the municipality since October 2020, to no avail.

Resident of Alan Paton Road, Robert Cairnduff, said despite reports to the municipality about a street light outside his house being out of operation, nothing had been done.

He said last year the battery from his vehicle had been stolen, as his property was in the dark at night.

“My wife and I are both deaf and don’t use hearing aids when we go to bed. We want to be safe at night. The street light has been out of order for six months. We pay high rates and this should be attended to,” he said.

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Commenting on the issue this week, Councillor Tembe said street light outages were a huge issue in the Glenwood and Umbilo areas.

She said she had been struggling with reports of long stretches of roads where there were no street lights such as Umbilo Road, Alan Paton Road, Lena Ahrens Road and Rick Turner Road, to name a few.

She said she had collated a list of the roads she was aware of and had sent this to the head of the Electricity Department and to the respective managers.

“I seldom, if ever, get responses from the department, but I have been given information that the City has no money to pay contractors and doesn’t have in-house capacity to deal with backlogs throughout the city. There is also no resources as simple as light bulbs in stores,” she said.

Tembe said she was struggling with getting lights fixed in the ward and is asking residents to continue reporting outages.

“I am doing my best to deal with this and bring it to the municipality’s attention so they won’t forget about our ward,” she said.

Responding to a request for comment on the allegations, eThekwini communications said they would not be able to gather comment without having had sight of the list from the councillor as the Electricity Department would need a reference in order to give a response.

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