The Tafelsig community says it took a viral video and effort from an opposition party to finally get the City to fix their street lights after three months.
“We logged and logged (complaints) over 25 times. People here are poor, they don’t have phones, they had to make a way but no one came.
“Having no street lights caused havoc in our community because they started selling drugs here, there was shooting, people were getting robbed when they went to the clinic to work, the bus stop or school early in the morning. You hear screaming but you can’t see a thing.
We as the poor feel we are not being recognised by the City. It took us going to (GOOD Party secretary-general) Brett Herron and making a viral video for the City to come out on Wednesday night and fix the lights,” said community activist and resident, Faida Williams-Mouton.
Herron said it was unacceptable that street lights and other service delivery problems only get resolved when an opposition part leader intervenes.
“Mitchells Plain residents are living under the terror of violent crime.
The Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town have a Safety Plan, costing R1.4 billion, which is supposed to halve the murder rate in the most dangerous communities by putting more boots on the ground in some communities. It is pointless investing R1.4bn in Leap (Learner Law Enforcement Officers) if the infrastructure issues undermine crime fighting.
When a community like Tafelsig, under siege of violent crime and gang warfare, has to live in the dark for months because the street lights don’t work then putting boots on the ground during the day is a waste of money and makes no one safe,” Herron said.
City’s acting Mayco member for energy Siseko Mbandezi on Monday said they were aware of the vandalised street lights in Tafelsig and teams were to attend to all repairs in the area.
“Repair work has been carried out in a number of areas. The City attends to street lights repairs within 14 days.
However, due to the increased theft and vandalism incidents in the area, we have accumulated a backlog in service requests. We are doing all we can to attend to the required repairs as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the rate at which theft and vandalism is happening in this area is putting strain on the City’s resources.
“This is simply unsustainable and we call on residents to assist the City by reporting suspicious activity to the City or to SAPS,” Mbandezi said.
Cape Times