CoCT’s energy teams tackle 8 881 streetlight service requests in one month

Cape Town ramps up night patrols as streetlight repairs hit 8 881 in a month, amid rising theft and vandalism. The City of Cape Town’s energy teams attended to 8 881 streetlight-related service requests in just one month, as the City intensified efforts to identify and fix outages across the metro. The spike, recorded between 25 January and 25 February 2026, marks a sharp increase from the 6 666 requests handled in the previous review period.

The City attributes the rise partly to a targeted operational shift, with teams conducting night patrols to proactively log faulty streetlights, particularly in areas where outages are underreported. Mayoral committee member for energyXanthea Limbergsaid the intervention formed part of a broader push to improve public lighting reliability. “Streetlight-related service requests increased in part as a result of a City-wide intervention, where the Energy Directorate initiated night patrols to assess the public lighting burn rate and log faults,” she said.

Overall, the City resolved 30 070 electricity-related service requests during the same period, up from 22 457 the month before, averaging roughly 970 cases a day. However, officials say the surge in repairs reflects deeper challenges, with theft, vandalism and illegal electricity connections continuing to drive infrastructure damage and outages. “The targeting of streetlight infrastructure is particularly concerning as they are often the first visible signs of the impact of this scourge in our communities,” Limberg said.

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The City’s Area East, which includes Helderberg and Parow, recorded the highest number of service requests at 3 399, followed by the South at 3 175 and the North at 2 252. Cape Town maintains a network of more than 245 000 streetlights. While R75.5 million has been allocated in the current financial year for upgrades and expansion, more than R44 million had already been spent by January on replacing infrastructure damaged by theft and vandalism.

In response, the City has launched its “Protect Your Power” campaign, aimed at raising awareness and encouraging residents to report suspicious activity. Additional measures include increased law enforcement visibility in hotspot areas, the rollout of anti-theft technologies, and the installation of lower-value materials to deter cable theft. Residents are urged to report faults and suspicious behaviour to help prevent further damage and improve response times.

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