Residents of several Pretoria east suburbs are growing increasingly frustrated as streetlights remain broken for years, leaving roads pitch-dark and dangerous at night. In areas such as Brampton Avenue in Lynnwood Manor, Greenwood Crescent in Lynnwood Ridge, Die Wilgers, and Remskoen, residents say repeated service requests have brought little relief. Frederik van der Walt, a resident affected by the outages, said the problem has dragged on for far too long.
“My house and surrounding area have not had lights for, I would say, close to about four to five years now,” he said. He added that residents who tried to solve the problem themselves were met with crime. “The problem is also that some residents in Remskoen have put up lights, and criminals decided to either steal them or break them down,” Van der Walt said.
He said all the tickets that get logged are closed without repairs on-site. Another resident Leo Stander said poor lighting has worsened existing road hazards. “They close an excavation and say the work is completed.
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So now it’s closed, but there’s still a bump there,” he explained. Stander said that without working streetlights, drivers only see what is directly in front of them. He described the situation as dangerous, adding that he has reported issues for more than three to four years, and the lack of lighting has already led to accidents.
“Cars have lost control at a sharp corner and ended up in my garden. My garden is below street level, which makes it risky,” he said. “If the streetlights worked, drivers could see better and avoid accidents.”
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