Street lighting problem persists in Durban North, uMhlanga

NON-FUNCTIONAL street lights in and around the Durban North and uMhlanga areas have persisted over the years, with several complaints reported to the ward councillors on a daily basis.

Ward 36 councilor, Shontel de Boer said Riverside Road and Kenneth Kaunda Road (Northway) and Swapo Road are some of the roads in Durban North that have been deeply affected.

“The streetlights are repaired and a few weeks later they are off again. In some cases it is due to copper cable theft, and in other cases it’s due to faults that have not been resolved. The day night switches don’t work, so the lights burn all day and, in my opinion, it is poor planning from this department that is also the cause of the problem,” she said.

“Residents complain to me regularly and it’s frustrating as I have sent numerous emails and made calls to the electricity department. Also, upgrades and maintenance of the lighting infrastructure are not done regularly which is why I say poor planning is also to blame,” said de Boer.

Ward 35 councillor, Nicole Bollman, said the non-functioning streetlights is a culmination of copper cable theft, poor maintenance, no contracts in place and the lack of available bucket trucks.

“The M41 is excessively bad with cable theft but, in ward 35 it’s more of a maintenance problem. You will find that on some roads, the streetlights don’t work and, in others, they are permanently on because they day/night sensors are faulty and there is no contract to replace those. There is also not enough bucket trucks available to repair the streetlights,” she said.

Karl Halse, who lives on Anthony Road, said the streetlight issue is frustrating for him as it is a security threat to him and others living in the area.

“It is unacceptable that we pay for this basic service, yet we don’t get it. I am on the community WhatsApp group and residents often post that there’s suspicious-looking people wandering in the area. If we had streetlights and more visibility, I would feel safer,” he said.

“The last time I complained about the streetlights, they were fixed. A few weeks later, they were off again and they have not been on for months. In certain parts of Durban North, the streetlights are on continuously, ” he said.

Spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality, Msawake Mayisela said the issue of street lighting in Durban is mostly attributed to social problems and that the City spends R200 million on streetlight maintenance, annually.

“Our department solves technical issues but you find that our teams fix the problem only for unknown vehicles to come and deliberately destroy the same lights again. This happens in a number of areas within the city and the Durban North suburbs are no exception.

There is no area in the Durban North suburbs that is not affected by this problem. The city spends approximately R200 million on streetlight maintenance annually. Theft and vandalism remain the biggest threat to the service,” said Mayisela.

He added that the municipality works closely with SAPS and private security companies who assist with protecting staff on the field while attending to vandalised streetlights as well as general outages.

“Our engineers are researching various innovative methods to curb this problem which include solar powered streetlights for the city,” he said.

Mayisela added that customers are encouraged take ownership in protecting municipal services in their respective areas by reporting any vandalism and faulty streetlights in their area to 080 311 111.