Solar lights give Joburg women safer nights

Student Lebogang Mangane grew up in South Africa’s coal mining heartland that still produces most of the country’s electricity, but her own streets rarely had any lighting, so she never felt safe walking anywhere after dark. Now she beams when she speaks about the thousands of solar lights that flood the roads of inner-city Johannesburg, including the Marshalltown neighbourhood where she works and studies. Mangane said these lights keep her safe from crime, but also remind her that energy can be clean and accessible to everyone.

“We only experienced coal pollution, not the electricity made from coal,” said the 27-year-old business student and entrepreneur. “These solar lights have become something of a symbol for us as women, that we can be safe and light up safety for others,” she said from theMaharishi Invincibility Institute, an educational institution where she studies and works. [Government] understands there are gaps in terms of issues of service delivery, infrastructure and maintenance and they are willing for us to help them.

South Africa is one of the world’s top coal producers, but in 2021 it was also the first country to accept the Just Energy Transition Partnership deal in which richer nations pledged cash to accelerate the shift from coal to renewables while protecting local employment. The solar lights that make Mangane feel safe, however, are rolled out byJozi My Jozi,a coalition of private businesses, civil society organisations and government working to boost Johannesburg’s inner-city revival. Jozi My Jozi sees its many initiatives as a way of supporting South Africa’s resource-strapped government.

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“[Government] understands there are gaps in terms of issues of service delivery, infrastructure and maintenance, and they are willing for us to help them,” said Innocent Mabusela, the head of Jozi My Jozi. Some 85% of inner-city residents do not feel safe walking at night, according to a paper by the research group Gauteng City-Region Observatory.

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