City of Joburg (CoJ) has a turnaround period of seven days when a faulty street light has been reported.
However, some residents say they report problems in vain as they remain unsolved for months on end.
“For months, long stretches of street lights have been out of order along Republic Road. Two stretches in particular are on dangerous curves. When I drive around Northcliff and Cresta I am always in the dark at night which is unsafe,” said Wendy Louw of Northcliff.
According to City Power spokesperson Sydney Mphahlele, to report streetlights a resident has to phone CoJ call centre on 0860 562 874 or go to fault logging system on City Power website to log a call.
Residents can also SMS 44074 or email estimations@citypower.co.za
When a resident logs a fault, a reference number will be issued for the complaint.
“With this reference number a resident will be able to trace the logged call by phoning CoJ call centre or checking the status of their call on the fault-logging system or post their enquiry on City Power’s Twitter account @CityPowerJhb with their reference number.”
“Almost the entire Windsor West has no street lights – yet, it is said to be one of the most dangerous places in our area with drugs and other petty crimes. Whenever I log a complaint, no one does anything about it. I just keep on receiving different reference numbers,” said Louw.
Nadia Peters said, “I no longer feel the need to report all the faulty street lights or any other CoJ-related issue anymore because nothing ever gets fixed. I feel like I would be wasting my time”.
However, according to Mphahlele, if all these avenues fail to provide an answer, residents still have the option of escalating the query to the area manager of the locality in which the problem lies.
The contact details of all the area managers are provided for on City Power website.
Residents can also contact their Ward councillors for further assistance.