Please give us light
DEAR 1ST CITIZEN: READERS COMPLAIN ABOUT DARK STREETS, WATER
1. It has been over a month now that we do not have street lights. Countless calls have been logged and tweeted with City Power by several residents. The response we receive is that the turnaround time for the repair is nine to 12 days.
Firstly, this never happens within the mentioned time period and, secondly, this is simply a ridiculous expected time for something as important as this to be looked at. The technicians are just nowhere to be seen.
When the technicians eventually do come out, I honestly do not know what it is they do, because the lights are on for one night and then the same cycle starts all over again. The latest explanation for the light problem is “certain unknown persons purposely interfere in our circuit, but the team again will attend to it”.
Our street is pitch black and we are, honestly, living in fear. We live in an area where crime is on the rise: hijackings, break-ins, muggings etc. We are too afraid to come out of our homes and yards at night. We have children and aged within our families, must they too live with this fear?
This is not service delivery, this is not what we hoped for with a new mayor in office. Must something bad happen before anybody decides to do their job, to realise that there is a problem?
Felicia van Rooyen, 1st Avenue, Bezuidenhout Valley
Mayor Mashaba: Thank you for your letter. Repairs to the street lights in 1st Avenue, Bezuidenhout Valley, have been carried out. Thank you for notifying us. City of Johannesburg notes with concern the escalating acts of criminality such as cable theft, vandalism and damage to street lights and its timing devices in the city.
These acts have become a growing concern and derail ongoing efforts to save electricity and keep the areas lit. It costs City Power millions of rands every year to replace equipment and cables. Theft and vandalism also exert unnecessary pressure on the grid, which is already constrained.
2. I am a 79-year-old citizen, residing in Sophiatown and applied at Thurso House, Braamfontein, on October 16 to register for the water subsidy. After explaining my mission to the young lady at the ESP counter, she informed me there was no such subsidy for water accounts, and I must pay the full amount, period. I produced a copy of the article on the subsidy and showed it to her, but the lady brushed it aside not even bothering to read it, and I was, thereafter, summarily dismissed.
Would you, in the light of my experience at Braamfontein, please confirm if a water subsidy does or does not apply to our water account.
Brian Tarbitt, Sophiatown, JHB.
Mayor Mashaba: Thank you for your letter. I am so sorry to hear about what happened to you. This incident is very disturbing and is not the standard of service we wish for any of our residents to receive. I would like to extend my sincere apologies to you. Our finance department has assured me that the RSSC department will investigate the matter, and has also extended an apology to you for this bad treatment. The city offers a variety of rebates and assistance programmes (such as ESP) to assist our exposed or vulnerable residents. Please could you send us your contact details so that we can pass it on to the customer interface director who will attend to the matter.
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West Rand mayor Boyce Maneli responds to your questions.