POLOKWANE – Some Flora Park residents want the Polokwane Municipality to compensate them for streetlights levies.
Resident representative John Sithole told Polokwane Observer that he is given the runaround whenever he asks the municipality to help.
“I have called them since March and would be attended to by people who don’t know what they’re doing. There is one who also said they do not have light bulbs, so my question is what do we pay them for?” he said.
Sithole says there are lights that do not switch off at all, whether day or night, however, in Mohlophi Street and on the corner of Mohlopi and Mosu streets the lights are not functional at all.
“This invites criminals, and we do not feel safe in our homes,” he mentioned.
Residents want the municipality to provide them with a timeframe in which the lights would be repaired, or they will demand backpay for the levies they pay monthly without receiving service.
Polokwane Municipality spokesperson Thipa Selala commented that work has been done since the start of the new financial year.
He added that streetlights are mostly dysfunctional due to damaged controllers, called photocells or day/night switches, and he pleaded with community members to take care of municipal property.
“Vandalism and theft of service infrastructure is still a challenge. We appeal to our people to report incidents of vandalism and theft of service infrastructure,” Selala concluded.