Cape Town - Between 31 July and 13 August 2024, City energy teams attended to 5 810 streetlight-related requests across the metro, bringing the total attended to in a month to more than 13 210.
This is only streetlight-related requests and does not include other energy service requests that were attended to, the City said.
Mayco Member for Energy, Xanthea Limberg, joined the local electricity teams as they repaired vandalised streetlights along Jakes Gerwel Drive as part of the intensified repair programme.
“The extent of damage and theft I have seen for myself in various communities, including along Jakes Gerwel Drive is simply unacceptable.
“Trenches stretching tens of metres were dug out by cable thieves, cables stolen and street poles vandalised, leaving communities in the dark and motorists as well as pedestrians at great risk.
“While our repair efforts intensify, we are also ramping up security to ensure the safety of both staff and infrastructure,” Limberg said.
“The City services more than 245 000 streetlights and interventions put in place to tackle streetlight-related notifications, including historic streetlight service requests, are yielding great results despite the crisis-levels of repeated theft and vandalism, leaving communities in darkness.
“Not only did we fix almost 6 000 streetlight-related requests in 14 days, but it comes on the back of more than 7 400 streetlights fixed in the preceding two weeks.
“Vandalism and theft remains a serious concern, particularly in the metro south region, even as we spare no effort to ensure our communities become brighter and safer,” Limberg said.
“We urge our communities to protect the electricity infrastructure servicing their area and to please call us if they see any suspicious activity to help us to prevent criminals from leaving our communities in the dark.”
Report suspicious behaviour to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre: 021 480 7700
* Note: the data looks at all streetlight-related service requests closed over a particular two-week period. Data is dynamic and new requests are constantly added to the already logged requests, as well as historic service requests.