Residents worried about street light outages

Street lights may or may not have an effect on crime, but one thing is certain – lights make people feel safer. After being in the unfortunate situation of getting a flat tyre on the Promosa road on Thursday night, 17 February, Michael* was reminded just how unsafe that road can be. “I was on my way home when I got a flat tyre at around 20:30. Although I was very annoyed with the situation, I was more concerned for my safety,” he said. Michael said he was concerned because the area where he got stuck was pitch black due to the street light outages. “It’s completely unacceptable that this is the situation in our town,” he lamented. “Under normal circumstances, I would’ve changed my tyre myself, but I had to call for assistance. How was I supposed to change the tyre while holding a torch?” he asked. “Why are we paying for service delivery if this is the case? Gangsters and thieves use that road. What if one of them had taken a chance on me?” he said. Michael is concerned that with the winter drawing near, many will suffer because of the situation at hand. “Many members in our community are without transport and are required to walk home after work,” he said. “With darkness setting in earlier during the winter, what is going to happen to those people, especially our women and children? It isn’t safe and this issue needs to be attended to urgently.” The municipality did not respond to the Herald’s requests for comment by the time of going to print. *Not his real name.