Dear Alan
I have been receiving your daily newsletter for quite some years and thank you for a superb website.
I am a resident in Cuylerholme Rooms, Western Road, Port Elizabeth. A friend, Chris van der Westhuizen, who also stays here and occupies the room next to mine, took some photos of the street lights in Western Road, which apparently do not get switched off and are on almost day and night.
Our own electricity levy has been drastically increased by our lessor as from June 1, 2013 due to the heavy increase by our same municipality that does not even switch off street lights!
You seem to be the right person to send this concern to and I hope that you can address this matter. Looking forward to hear from you.
Kind regards
Marie Antoinette Voges
In the interests of fair play I asked Marie the following (her replies in italics):
- Is this a daily occurrence? We have noticed that it happens quite frequently, but not on a daily basis.
- How long has it been going on for? Since the 11th and the lights were never switched off until after about 11:00 today.
- Is it accompanied by repairs to the streetlights? We can see no street repairs taking place.
I, personally am still waiting for a reply to an e-mail that I directed to the NMBMM JOC (waterleaks@mandelametro.gov.za) on 31 May 2013 and have lost trust in that avenue to report problems around town, so I have sent a link to this article to my friend in communications asking to shed some light on this concern as well as give more information as to who needs to be contacted when our citizens notice an opportunity to help save ratepayers some money, and eagerly await his reply.
Western Road Street Street lights still on at 13h50 on 11 June 2013 in Western Road. Image: Chris van der Westhuizen
