The City of Tshwane continues to grapple with the problem of cable theft after at least 1 000 street lights were stripped and the cables stolen in Soshanguve just a day after they were repaired.
Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink, who visited the township this week, bemoaned the fact that such acts of criminality have negative bearings on delivery of services to communities.
As part of an urban management programme, he said, the City embarked on fixing public lighting on the main routes of Soshanguve in the past month.
However, just a day after the street lights were repaired, they were vandalised and the cables stolen by unknown criminals.
Brink said: “I think a 1 000 street lights were repaired in the past month, in particular in Commissioner Street and Buitekant Street, and the day after they were fixed all of the cables were stolen.”
He said the municipality was fighting a constant battle against criminals who have a definitive effect on service delivery.
“It does not mean we are going to give up; it just says that a problem we have with crime affects service delivery in every part of our city,” he said.
Brink previously expressed concerns that street lights that were out in many parts of the municipality threatened the safety of communities who become vulnerable to criminals.
He said in May that the City would explore the installation of solar street lights as one of the solutions to the problem.
“As much as people would say solar street lights can be stolen, what we find in practice is that electricity supply to street lights is very often stripped and to replace a solar street light is far more effective than trying to replace the entire electricity infrastructure supporting street lights,” he said.
Sharing the same sentiment was deputy mayor Nasiphi Moya, who stressed that the City won’t throw in the towel, “because we understand that theft and vandalism is done by criminals and our job is to protect communities”.
According to her, the municipality has set aside a budget during this present financial year to make sure that street lights are lit.
The City’s budget, she said, was also dedicated to cutting grass, maintenance work and making sure communities are safe.
“We started this work of making sure that we fix street lights, especially focusing on public lighting (and) we are not going to stop. However, there will be measures that will ensure that we curb criminality,” Moya said.
She further pleaded with communities not to allow illegal dumping, saying people ought to see opportunities to start future gardens in open spaces where illegal dumping is done.
Early this year, the City denounced wanton acts of vandalism targeting municipal infrastructure such as water and electricity networks, saying they put a strain the City’s already stretched budget.
Pretoria News