Areas are in darkness, people live in fear

NON-FUNCTIONING street lights provide opportunities for criminals to attack, say residents in Darnall, Chatsworth and Verulam.

Darnall

Bradley Moodley, of Singum Road, said: “None of the lights on my road have worked for several years. It's dark and crime is rampant, especially housebreakings. Functional street lights would help us see activity on the road.”

Saroj Naidoo, of Singum Road, added: “When people complain, the municipality fixes one light and their workers leave. They should be going street to street and sorting it out. We are tired of complaining. Don't come to us when it is voting time. We need solutions now.”

Vijay Govender, a pensioner from Roja Road, said: “Every other day criminals are breaking into homes, stealing copper pipes and even the taps. My husband and I never leave our home at night. Criminals wait for the dark to attack.”

Derek Abraham, a community activist, said: “We are paying our rates but there is no service delivery. Many of us are reporting faulty street lights, but we have not been successful with the KwaDukuza Municipality.”

Melissa Vembali, a proportional representative councillor and resident, said the areas affected included Park Drive, Hulett Drive, Flamboyant Drive, Roja Road, Singum Road, Temple Road, Jandah Road, Mill Way, Prospect Road and Purra Terence Road.

“Residents fear driving at night and walking to the shop. They cannot even sit outside their homes.”

Chatsworth

Lance Pillay, of Mazarin Place in Moorton, said the street lights on this road had not worked for more than two years. He said vagrants and thieves took advantage of the darkness to break into houses.

“The road is in a low-lying area and it is the perfect ground for opportunistic crime. We have installed more light fixtures on our property in the hope that it would brighten the area outside, but this is impacting our electricity bill. It is the eThekwini Municipality's job to repair and replace the street lights.”

He said several of the residents had complained about the non-functioning lights. Cyril Naidu, a community activist and resident, said the affected areas included Astral Drive in Woodhurst, Moorcross Drive in Moorton, Woodcrest Avenue in Croftdene, Road 728 in Montford, Damorosa Crescent and Alentia Grove.

“The street lights on the Higginson highway, near the Unit 9 offramp to the Unit 6 offramp, are not working due to cable theft. Last week two people were knocked in that vicinity.”

Mohan Hiralal, the chairperson of the Moorton Community Development Forum, said: “For about three years, there is little lighting on the Higginson highway and other roads in the area.”

Hiralal said he had been reporting defective street lights since mid-2020.

Teddy Govender, the chairperson of the Chatsworth Civic Federation, said Chatsworth had always been treated like the stepchild of the municipality.

“All internal roads, including Havenside Drive, Silverglen Drive and the Higginson highway have issues, mainly owing to cable theft. As a result of this, it's easy to conduct a crime. Just look at the spate of hijacking, house robberies, the stoning of vehicles and obstruction on the roads that are taking place. The municipality is failing the people of Chatsworth.”

Verulam

Siva Naicker, of Blueberry Road in Brindhaven, said he had had enough.

He said he lodged numerous complaints with eThekwini’s customer care line after a street pole was hit and damaged in an accident last year.

“The lines are still live, while they just lie on the ground. I have emailed the city, sent photographs and called, but there was no response.

“Most of the road is in darkness. People are now chopping the wooden light poles to probably make fires in winter.

“The city needs to budget for such issues. When one pays rates, which are not cheap, one expects service delivery.”

Vish Roopnarain, the chairperson of the Verulam Civic Association, said the street lights from Todd Street at the Engen garage to the Oaklands turnoff had not been working for about a year.

He said the lights in Garland Street had not worked for about six months.

“This is concerning to residents, pedestrians and motorists. The city needs to up their game.”

Johnson Chetty, a ward councillor, said: “I have reported the problem to the call centre, obtained reference numbers and I even emailed the manager for his cooperation, but failure beckoned again.

“It’s unfortunately the long-suffering ratepayer who gets treated with contempt.”

He said lights on Jabu Ngcobo Road had not been working for two years, Jacaranda Avenue for four months and George Sewpersad Street for a year.

Neither municipality had commented at the time of publication.