Laudium and Erasmia residents are facing a serious and imminent crisis as aging infrastructure in the area is fast collapsing with each passing day.
While the ANC has been in control of the Tshwane Council for almost all the years since democracy, under their control very little money has been spent on replacing aging infrastructure in the Laudium/Erasmia area, with more money seemingly being spent on tenders for their friends or even themselves, for alleged services such as security and water tankers. Thus complaints to the Laudium Sun from residents, concerning faulty electricity cables, streetlights, leaking underground water and sewage pipes, electric sub-stations, and sinkholes,etc. have been increasingly pouring in.
In one of the latest complaints regarding faulty streetlights and cabling, residents of Petrus Myburgh Street in Erasmia have been complaining about their streetlights that have not been working for more than three weeks.
Some residents have also complained that faulty electric cables have been the cause of their streetlights only working for two or three days before going off again. It is a continuous saga that residents say they are forced to deal with, despite several complaints to the office of Cllr Patel and the Council office.
Odesir Mehmood of Petrus Myburgh Street told the Laudium Sun, “It has been more than three weeks since the streetlights on our street have not been working and this is becoming a serious concern for residents living in the area. I have complained about the problem to the Council, but as usual, the Council workers take their own time to attend to the problem. When they eventually come and fix the streetlights, the lights only work for two or three days before going off again. At night, this place looks like a ghost area and if anything happens or any criminal activity takes place, it becomes very difficult for us to see what is going on in our street. We are living in an area where residents need proper street lighting, especially at night, as crime is high in our area and we need to be able to see who is hiding and watching our homes and who is on the streets. We have reported the ongoing street light problem to the Council many times, but no one from the Council seems to take the matter seriously. We have also reported the issue to the Councillor’s office, but honestly, we are not seeing any proper solution to the problem. The Councillor is useless and does not know what he is doing in our community. We need someone to take responsibility and make sure that these problems are properly attended to. We really need the streetlights back on our street. In fact, if you go around Erasmia, you will find that many of the streetlights are not working. It is not only our street that is affected. The City of Tshwane needs to come out and properly fix these lights instead of making temporary repairs. The City of Tshwane can come now and fix the street lights, but after that, boom, the streetlights are not working again. This has become a continuous cycle and residents are really tired of having to deal with the same problem over and over again, as it seems that the Council needs to replace the aging cabling also. We are really tired of this situation and of how careless the City Council has been about the streetlight issues in Erasmia, as it is often a temporary fix. Residents deserve better service delivery and we need the council and Councillor to start taking the concerns of Erasmia residents seriously. We just want the street lights to work properly and stay working so that our community can feel safer at night.”
“The Councillor is useless and does not know
what he is doing in our community.”
Fuzain Hussain of Bok Street, Erasmia, told the Laudium Sun, “The streetlights in our area have not been working for over two weeks now and this has become a serious concern for residents. What makes the situation even more frustrating is that this is not a new problem. Even when the lights are repaired and start working again, they only remain operational for a few days before going off once more. This has been happening repeatedly for more than a year and residents are really tired of having to deal with the same issue. We have been seeing this problem for such a long time that it has become difficult to understand why the matter has not been properly resolved. If the Council workers had fixed the streetlights properly the first time, we should have had functioning lights for a much longer period. Instead, the lights are repaired temporarily and then stop working again after only a few days. This creates the impression that the actual fault is not being properly investigated or addressed. The Council workers need to do their job properly and make sure that the repairs they carry out are effective. There is no point in coming to an area, repairing the lights and then leaving residents to face exactly the same problem shortly afterwards. We need a permanent solution rather than temporary repairs that only last for a few days. Perhaps the street lights or electric cablings are now old and require replacing. Having working street lights is important for our community, particularly during the night. When the lights are not functioning the streets become dark and dangerous thus residents have to be extra careful when moving around the area. It helps people feel more comfortable in their own
neighbourhood. We have been patient with this situation for a very long time, but there is a limit to how long residents can continue accepting the same poor service. More than a year of recurring problems is far too long. The Council should have already identified what is causing the lights to repeatedly fail and should have taken the necessary steps to resolve the matter properly.”
