POLOKWANE – The Polokwane Municipality is experiencing vandalism of equipment and infrastructure at a pace faster than what it can afford repair.
Municipal communications manager, Matshidiso Mothapo responded to questions from the Polokwane Observer following the two-week tracking of malfunctioning streetlights in the city.
Lights in Rabe Street, De Wet Drive, Voortrekker Street and Bendor Drive, among others, have been malfunctioning for months and residents in Outspan Drive say they have been reporting issues for years with no outcome.
Observer journalist Maretha Swanepoel either found lights switched on during the day or none functioning at night, which poses a potential safety risk for those living in these area.
Mothapo said the municipality continuously repairs streetlights but that load-shedding is the main reason for why lights are switched on during the day.
“Load-shedding has damaged streetlight control circuits and that results in them burning during the day. Residents are requested to specifically mentioned where streetlights are on during the day when they report these,” he said.
With other residents saying they don’t report the matter as little gets done, Mothapo said reports do have an effect on what the municipality repairs.
“The weekly streetlight maintenance report to the executive management meeting of the municipality indicates that more than 4 000 streetlights have been repaired since August 2022. This is done on a continuous basis. Those vandalising are just moving at a faster pace because it is easier to strip than to repair,” he said.
Mothapo added that residents be more specific with street names when reporting outages so that the municipality’s electrical department is able to go through streetlight reports and respond accordingly.
