Azaadville now safer due to working streetlights
What started out as a street project quickly became a community project for Sahron Govindasamy, a councillor from Azaadville.
With load-shedding comes insecurity and an opportunity for criminals as the dark cloak of the night provides the perfect cover for them to move around freely and pounce on their unsuspecting victims.
Because of this reason, the PR councillor for wards 3 and 36 Sharon Govindasamy started a solar power streetlight initiative in Azaadville.
Azaadville is being targeted daily and the lack of streetlights during load-shedding makes it easy for criminals to operate. I saw solar streetlights as a deterrent to crime,” she explained.
A resident from Azaadville Ebrahim Mohamed offered to supply the solar lights at a reasonable price and Govindasamy approached residents in the street where she lives to ask if they were interested in solar lights for their street.
“They were extremely keen on the idea and 13 homes agreed to contribute toward the purchasing of solar streetlights.”
She then approached Mogale City Local Municipality’s electrical department and told them about the initiative. They permitted Govindasamy to go ahead with the project on condition that they adhere to safety protocols during the installation and that the municipality was exempt from maintenance and replacement of the solar fittings, batteries and globes.
The next step was to create a WhatsApp group with all the residents and it was on this group that 13 homes offered to help fund the lights for the five poles. The solar streetlights were R1 000 every household paid about R400.
“Once the lights were installed, residents from other streets showed a keen interest in the initiative and contacted me.”
She followed the same process for each street and in one of the streets, a resident volunteered to collect the funds and pay the supplier.
“I supervise the installation which takes approximately 3 to 4 hours per street.”
Govindasamy added that she was grateful to the municipality for allowing them to install the lights as they also saw the need to keep the community safe.
“The Azaadville community has been amazing in rallying together and uniting in each street for a common cause. It takes a few weeks to coordinate the process of getting everyone on board but there is little to no resistance from the residents. Where there is a lack of finance in any home, the residents in that street pay extra to cover the cost for that person. It is an incredible experience to witness how the people of our community care for one another.”
Approximately 15 streets have solar lights so far and they are busy with another four streets which are in different stages of the process.
She also explained that the Azaadville Neighbourhood Watch (ANW) has been doing an amazing job in keeping the community safe for the past two decades. A team of dedicated volunteers patrols the streets at night and offers security systems for homes and the monitoring of homes.
But their hands are tied because not many residents make use of their services.
“I feel that if more residents affiliated themselves with ANW they would have a larger workforce to do more than they do already. Secondly, more police presence is required in the area. We used to have a fully-fledged police station in the past. The building still exists but it is not being used for the purpose it was intended for. I propose that they reopen the police station to curb the rise in crime.”
Apart from crime, the residents of Azaadville also struggle with blocked sewer and stormwater manholes due to a lack of maintenance. Ageing water infrastructure, high municipality bills, potholes, streetlights that are not working, low water pressure as a result of load-shedding, power outages after load-shedding as well as prepaid water and electricity issues.
Govindasamy wanted to thank her community saying, “I am grateful to the residents that access my service and for the confidence placed in me to address their issues. Thank you for the ongoing support for the work I do. I am here for all of you, to address your issues, explore and strategise options on how best to deal with these issues and drive new initiatives to make our community a safer, happier place to live in.”
She plans to take this solar streetlight project to Ward 36 extension 9 in Kagiso next.
“It’s a beautiful little community that takes care of and respects the environment they live in.”
