Year-long street lights nightmare irks residents
There is still no light at the end of the tunnel for a year-long street light nightmare on Peter Mokaba Road and adjacent streets in Durban. While residents are at risk of criminal activities and road accidents, the eThekwini Municipality insisted that repairs and upkeep had been constantly conducted in the last ten months, pointing the finger at prevalent vandalism.
ENDLESS complaints to eThekwini Municipality seem to have fallen on deaf ears as the residents of Peter Mokaba Road continue to endure the thorn of dark streets for over a year now.
Suresh Monilall, chairman of Davelain Body Corporate is at pains and has reached out to Berea Mail, following what he described as a nightmare. He said he had first sent a complaint to eThekwini Municipality on July 8, 2023, regarding the faulty street lights on Peter Mokaba Road. Affected light poles are 11 in total. He added that there been no intervention since then.
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“I have only received a response of two different reference numbers however there has not been any form of action to pacify the issue. Peter Mokaba Road is the main road for taxis and busses, and commuters and pedestrians utilizing this section of the road are at risk daily. Because it is the main road, other surrounding streets like Harbottle Road, Penford Grove, East Street, Centre Street, Crescent Street, View Street, Silver Palm Road and West Road are affected.
“Not so long ago a car traveling north on Ridge Road veered off the road and crashed into a light pole because of poor visibility and another vehicle caught fire on the road traveling south and the fire engine battled to extinguish the flames because of poor visibility”, he said.
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EThekwini Municipality’s Spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said for the past ten months, Peter Mokaba Road has undergone multiple street lighting repair efforts. She said the most recent was just before the May 2024 Elections through the Electricity Unit’s multi-regional intervention on street lighting repairs.
“Despite these efforts, this road continues to be plagued by theft and vandalism, particularly targeting light fittings and cables. To combat this ongoing challenge, the Unit is actively exploring renewable energy solutions that will provide a permanent and more sustainable source of power for the City’s streetlights. Although these persistent threats of theft and vandalism remain active, the Electricity Unit will continue repairing as many streetlights as its capacity allows.”
Wards 27 Councillor, Ernest Smith echoed, “Street lighting is a largely problematic issue in the metro and requires the municipality to designate more resources to the street lighting division of the electricity unit to deal with the backlog of reported streetlights. Peter Mokaba Road, Nimmo Road, Havelock Crescent, parts of Musgrave Road, along with other streets in the area also form part of a longstanding complaints list that the electricity department has been requested to attend to.”
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