City Power blames vandalism for malfunctioning street lights

It has been more than a year since the street lights on Rooipeer Street in Bloubasrand stopped working.

This is according to resident Serena Boyle who claimed the lights had only worked for two weeks within a year’s period. She also claimed that only one light on the entire street worked and it was on for 24 hours.
Boyle said it was scary driving home at night and getting out of the car to open her gate in the dark. She had escalated the problem to Ward 115 councillor Mark van der Merwe after reporting the issue to City Power without any success.
“I have been constantly reporting and all I get is messages saying it [the issue] is either been closed or being attended to and nothing gets done. The ward councillor has been escalating it for months now,” she said.

“I had an intruder in the garden on Tuesday [March 22] morning. It is not pleasant living in total darkness all the time and I don’t feel comfortable coming home at night, and fear for my children and tenant coming home late at night.”
Van der Merwe said he was aware of the problem. “I was first notified of issues on Rooipeer [Street] back in May 2020 where City Power repaired and fixed [the street lights] within three days only to be reported again four days later. In fact, looking back, I have had 27 reports of issues with street lights in Rooipeer.

He added that every month he had received reports of this issue. “The only break was from May until November 2021 where we had no reports. When I get residents sending requests for assistance with regards to street lights, I immediately escalate direct to the City Power street light team as and when I get the service delivery escalation from residents.”
He said there was a dedicated group of depot executives at City Power to whom 16 councillors in the region could post escalations directly to. “Unfortunately, Bloubosrand is not even the worst area in the ward. In Jukskeipark and Joburg North we have issues almost daily with vandalism that takes the infrastructure down.”

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said it was not true that street lights in the suburb had not been repaired for an entire year.
“We conduct regular spotting exercises to identify malfunctioning or vandalised lights. We keep on fixing the lights but they go off again. We fixed them on January 18 but they lasted for only two days and were damaged again,” he said.

Mangena added vandalism of street lights was rife in the area. “We have fixed all of the lights and residents have seen that. Criminals vandalise the lights and steal fittings, covers, and in some instances the overhead cables.”
He said criminals deliberately vandalised the lights knowing that when the streets were dark, they were able to engage in other criminal activities such as hijackings, muggings and others.