In a written responses to DA questions, Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Dr Ismail Vadi, said that the lights were off “due to power supply problems”, and “may only be resolved within six weeks, as the department relies on municipalities and Sanral to maintain street-lighting on provincial roads and they repair the lights based on their priorities”.
However, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s (EMM) divisional head of Operations and Maintenance responded to DA enquiries, claiming no knowledge of such arrangement for the municipality to assist on provincial roads, and as such, “don’t attend to Provincial roads, traffic signals or streetlights”.
“On previous occasions streetlights were disconnected, because officials at both departments thought that the responsibility to pay the electricity bill lay with the other department,” says DA Gauteng spokesperson on Roads and Transport, Neil Campbell.
“It comes as no surprise then that streetlights are off for such lengthy periods, as the MEC ‘thinks’ arrangements have been made, when in fact none exist.
“The fact is, provincial roads should be maintained by the Provincial Department as is its remit, and the MEC should not cover up the ANC’s inefficiency with vague responses,” says Campbell.
The metro spokesperson, Themba Gadebe, confirms that the metro is not aware of any arrangements to assist with maintenance on behalf of Sanral or the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport affecting the R21 Atlas offramp.
“It is recommended that Sanral, Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport and officials of Ekurhuleni metro meet to clarify these grey areas and to confirm the different areas of responsibilities,” says Gadebe. – @IschkeBoksburg
Re the “missing mail” as a resident of Parkdene we have not received any mail for the past two months along with other residents in our street despite the postal strike being over for some time now. Repeated visits to Boksburg central post office just leaves one more frustrated
and answer less as to when we might receive our back mail.