KARIEGA – Key arterial roads in Kariega remain without functional streetlights, forcing thousands of daily commuters to navigate critical infrastructure in darkness.
UD Express previously reported that the affected routes include the R75, Old Cape Road, the R334 from Uitenhage Farms to Daniel Pienaar Street, and Old Uitenhage Road to Durban Street, where non-functional streetlights have left drivers dependent on vehicle headlights to navigate potential hazards including potholes and road obstacles during night-time travel.
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More than 140 streets across Kariega’s Ward 48 and Ward 49 are currently without functional streetlights, with Ward 48 Councillor Franay Van de Linde reporting 81 affected streets in her ward alone, of which 61 remain unrepaired despite a R200,000 maintenance budget allocation.
Contractors appointed last year to address the backlog have ceased work owing to Supply Chain Management challenges within the municipality. This leaves residents in areas including Kamesh Road, Nightingale Street, and dozens of other locations without street lighting for extended periods.
Van de Linde has provided comprehensive statistics regarding the streetlight crisis affecting her ward. The information reveals the extent of the lighting problems and their impact on community safety.
“Ward 48 is currently dealing with streetlight failures across 81 streets throughout the ward,” she said.
“Early last year, 20 streetlights were successfully repaired and restored to working condition. However, some of these previously repaired lights have since failed again and are no longer functioning. This leaves 61 streets across the ward that remain without proper lighting and still require urgent attention.”
Regarding service response and causes, she said the average response time for streetlight repairs is approximately 7 days.
“The primary cause of streetlight failures in Ward 48 is vandalism, which appears to be an ongoing challenge affecting the infrastructure. The ward has been allocated a budget of R200,000 specifically for streetlight maintenance purposes.”
Whilst contractors were appointed last year to address the streetlight backlog, she added that the project has come to a complete halt due to internal Supply Chain Management challenges.
There is currently no progress being made on resolving these issues, leaving residents increasingly frustrated with the lack of service delivery.
The lack of proper street lighting has created serious safety and security concerns for Ward 48 residents.
“People travelling to and from work using public transport are being robbed, and break-ins have escalated significantly in the affected areas. Criminal elements are taking advantage of the darkness to carry out illegal activities, making residents feel unsafe in their own neighbourhoods,” she said.
Van de Linde added that they have attempted to address these concerns by tabling two motions at the council last week aimed at resolving the streetlight crisis.
“However, both motions were rejected by the coalition government, which dismissed the proposals as unimportant, despite the clear impact on residents’ safety and quality of life.
Ward 49 Councillor Georgen Miggels also provided a comprehensive list of streetlight outages across his ward.
Miggels noted extensive streetlight failures throughout Ward 49, affecting numerous residential streets.
“Many entire streets are without lighting, including areas such as Pheasant Drive, Colibri Drive, Fantail Avenue, and Cormorant Crescent where all lights are reported as non-functional. Additionally, several streets have partial outages affecting specific house numbers or sections.”
He added that the affected areas span across residential neighbourhoods with bird-themed street names such as Nightingale Street, Robin Lane, Starling Drive, Lovebird Street, Swift Street, and Falcon Street.
Some locations have been without proper lighting for extended periods, with one entry noting that lights on 20 Bokmakierie Street haven’t worked since last year.
Miggels noted that high-priority areas requiring streetlight repairs include main intersections, corners of major roads like Kamesh Road and Acacia Avenue, and locations near community facilities such as the Middle Street Clinic.
When asked how many have been repaired, Miggels said none that he is aware of have been fixed recently, even after escalating this matter to the NMBM.
“We had a meeting in November between the Kariega/KwaNobuhle councillors, MMC, officials and contractors. There were two contractors, one for main roads and one for residential streets,” he said.
“They requested lists from us, which I have submitted. The contractor then called me at the end of November saying he would come to my office the next day, which never happened.
“I have not heard from him since. I then informed the MMC in December and early January, where she promised to intervene. I had no luck with her. I then went to the Superintendent in charge of the Kariega project who then informed me that no residential streetlights would be fixed as there was no budget left.
“I want to categorically state that no lights were fixed in wards 48, 49 and 50,” concluded Miggels.
Ward 51 Councillor Roelf Basson said between 300 and 400 street lights have been non-functional for the past two to three years.
“We prepared and distributed a petition which was signed by 3026 online signatories and 461 physically signed in the office. This amongst other pressure by the party resulted in a number of contractors being appointed at the end of last year to attend mostly to main streets.”
Basson added that the contractors started work in only two and a half streets and no work in the ward has been done to date.
These contractors are unfortunately dealing with the whole of Kariega, and Ward 51, it seems, is not a priority for the management. My request was to introduce a fair rotation of work to different areas for a balanced approach.
He added that there was no budget allocation for streetlights for the 2025/26 financial year but the ward is getting financial assistance through departmental funding from electricity.
Owing to worsening vandalism, the Vanes Neighbourhood Watch donated several lamps after it was reported that the required models had been discontinued. Basson added that although the electricity department had promised to install them, the work has not yet been done.
Basson concluded, “The only way to progress with this very pressing issue is to hold management accountable and follow up on a weekly basis.”
The municipality was approached for comment but did not respond at the time of going to print.
