Residents, however, said that they had just gathered on Welgedacht Road and called the law enforcement officers to help them speak to their ward councillor, Ramesh Sheodin, after their Apollo lights had been switched off for two days.
The residents claimed that it was the ward councillor who had instructed staff from the Department of Energy to switch off their lights, and they just wanted to ask him to have them turned back on.
The community added that they feared crime would escalate if they stayed without lights.
“This is not a protest, our lights have been switched off on instruction of our ward councillor and we want to know why and get them back on,” said Sipho Mahlake.
“From 2011 to now these lights have been on, however, as from Wednesday, they have been off, while other, surrounding areas whose light were also off on Wednesday are now on.
“We have people who attack us at night, so how will we see them without lights?”
Mahlake added that, for two days, the residents had been sleeping in fear, as they were unsafe, thus they were asking the councillor and Department of Energy to help them.
Another resident, Phineas Maila, shared the views about the councillor being responsible for the lights being off.
“These lights help us, as we are terrorised and have a lot of crime when it is dark here,” he said.
“When we report our concerns to our ward councillor he says he can’t come to us, so all we are pleading for is for our lights to be switched back on.”
Some of the residents, who were speaking to the police, said that by Wednesday and Thursday night they could already hear gun shots and that there were already reports that some residents had been attacked.
However, others who were speaking among themselves, secretly admitted that there were illegal connections causing the power at the substation to trip.
Technicians and specialists who arrived at the substation during the day tried to fix the problem but failed, as the power kept tripping.
Chief area engineer from the Department of Energy, William Hunt, said they had received information that residents had gone into the substation to try to burn it, which didn’t make sense.
“The power is tripping because of illegal connections,” he said.
When the African Reporter contacted Sheodin he said he did not know why Gugulethu Everest had no lights.
“What authority do I have to switch off Apollo lights and why would I ask for the light to be switched off if I was the one who had asked for them to be installed in the first place, in 2011?” he asked.
