Season ready: Streetlight programme success makes Cape Town shine for residents and visitors

17 December 2024

Energy teams have been hard at work ensuring that some of the main travelling routes in the metro are as well lit up as possible for residents and those flocking to the Mother City at this time of the year.

From roadways far and wide, including Philip Kgosana, the R27, the M3 and parts of the N2 and other popular routes along the Peninsula, teams continue to service streetlights and keep up the fight against the extreme levels of theft and vandalism that often impact the burn rates along the routes and in communities. Other national and provincial agencies are also responsible for some national roads, including off- and on-ramps and this unfortunately impacts the burn rate of lights as the City does not manage certain routes.

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg, has continued the streetlight programme visits started a few months ago across the metro, this time with a bit of a holiday focus in mind. The City maintains more than 245 000 streetlights across the metro, while other national and provincial agencies maintain some national and provincial routes including the on- and off-ramps of those roadways.

‘Over the past few months, I’ve been visiting streetlight maintenance and repair projects across the metro from Manenberg, to Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain to Wynberg, Lavender Hill, Kraaifontein and Parow. This also includes our LED retrofitting projects.

'As we approach the holiday peak season, I joined Energy Teams on evening public lighting inspections across all the major routes in the metro to make sure our city is a beacon of light to our residents and visitors alike. I’ve inspected the burn rate of our streetlights on major routes along the Peninsula, the M3, Philip Kgosana Drive and the R27 among others.

‘Our biggest problem remains theft and vandalism that impact the burn rate of the streetlights. We have actions in place to reduce the risk but we need our residents to help us.

‘In just over a month, we attended to almost 10 000 streetlight requests following our interventions to enhance turnaround times – vandalism and theft being a major contributor to outages.

‘So our message is clear: Let’s ACT and Protect Your Power this holiday season! Criminal acts often increase over the festive and holiday season. We urge our residents to remain vigilant and keep an eye on electrical infrastructure in their neighbourhoods to reduce the chances of outages.

‘Report suspicious behaviour near electrical infrastructure to the Emergency Centre on 021 480 7700 or to our Call Centre via WhatsApp to 060 018 1505.

‘We’re ready to step up to the challenge for a brighter, safer and more welcoming city,’ said Alderman Limberg.

Let’s ACT: Protect Your Power

Report suspicious behaviour to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre: 021 480 7700

CAPTIONS
Caption: Alderman Xanthea Limberg.

  
End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office