With or without load shedding, some street lights in Durban simply don’t work. They are either switched on or off indefinitely because the city’s electricity department is yet to appoint a maintenance contractor.
eThekwini Municipality has, for almost a year, been unable to award a tender for street light maintenance. The previous contract ended in March last year.
This was revealed by Maxwell Mthembu, the head of the city’s electricity unit, to the human settlement and infrastructure committee this week. Members of the committee wanted to know the progress made in appointing a new contractor.
They were concerned the delays have left some streets in the dark with residents fearing for their safety.
According to Mthembu, about 25% of the city’s street lights are reportedly faulty.
He said although the city officials were working hard to fix them, they could not attend to all areas and the delays in appointing a contractor had caused major setbacks.
Mthembu said the supply chain management unit started the process in 2017, however, it was hindered.
Mthembu promised that by end of March the city would have appointed a new contractor.
“The awarding of the tender is in the final stages and we are just waiting for the city manager’s signature. It will then go to the adjudication committee for a 14-day period to see if any objections are lodged. If there are no objections, we should be able to start working from next month,” said Mthembu.
DA committee member Martin Meyer, said he was concerned that the backlog was massive and it would take some time to catch up.
“I have a long list of street lights for the different wards. It is very concerning that the municipality has taken so long to sort this problem. The situation got worse last year where there were no globes to replace faulty lights. Street lights are an important part of our battle against crime. In areas like Morningside, we have seen a spike in crime when the lights are off,” said Meyer.
Mdu Nkosi, IFP committee member, said he had enquired about the same issue for more than a year.
“The municipality has put the lives of residents in danger by failing to resolve a simple issue. It is unacceptable that the supply chain management unit can take a whole year just to appoint a contractor.”