Locals face wrath of Endumeni Municipality after fixing dud street lights
“We did ask the municipality for permission to do so and when we did not receive an answer, we went ahead and did it ourselves.
Residents of the Valley View area in Glencoe fixed two streetlights on Monday, which they say the municipality has failed to do for three years.
The streetlights, in Ben Schoeman Street, were repaired by two qualified electricians and a group of assistants who said they were members of MK. The residents said they had complained to the municipality ‘numerous times’ to have the streetlights repaired. “Since October 2023, municipal workers have come three times to do ‘who knows what’ on these streetlights, and they are still not working. The most recent was on June 13. “We will now fix these lights ourselves, using our qualified electricians and spares.
The work will be done in compliance with all regulations.
“If the municipality wants to lock us up for doing the repairs ourselves, we will fight it in court, as we have the proof of all our correspondence begging for repairs to be done, but to no avail.” A cable that was damaged when fibre optics were placed in the area was replaced.
The cabling running to the streetlights was also replaced and in the evening, the streetlights were working. Residents expressed their thanks, saying the area had become a hot spot for crime as a result of the ‘darkness’.
“There are many elderly people here.
“There is also an abandoned house in the area, from where drugs are sold, which has made the Valley View precinct vulnerable to criminals.
“Those carrying out repairs said they had already received additional requests in Glencoe from residents wanting streetlights fixed.” Ward 7 Councillor Salem Abdool told the Courier that ‘it was illegal for private persons to work on municipal infrastructure without the necessary permission’. However, he assured residents that despite many challenges, everything possible was being done to ‘speed up service delivery’.
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