Nelson Mandela Bay burns through R10m streetlight budget with little to show for it

A R10-million budget set aside this financial year to repair Nelson Mandela Bay’s broken streetlights is being rapidly depleted amid extreme pricing disparities among appointed contractors, raising questions about procurement oversight as thousands of faults remain unresolved.

The municipality appointed 10 contractors last year to tackle the city’s growing streetlight crisis, but councillors have raised concerns about the slow pace of repairs.

Several councillors warned that prolonged outages and slow progress on repairs were creating safety concerns in communities heading into winter, when longer hours of darkness leave roads and neighbourhoods poorly lit.

The contractors were appointed to inspect and diagnose faulty streetlights, document infrastructure problems and carry out repairs on damaged or non-functional units across the metro.

Despite numerous requests for answers on the number of faulty streetlights in the metro, the municipality did not respond to questions sent by Daily Maverick on Sunday. DA Councillor Ondela Kepe said that in March, an energy committee meeting had been told that 21,000 streetlights were faulty.

Budget ‘insufficient’

A report prepared for last Friday’s postponed electricity and energy committee meeting states that the capital budget allocated for public lighting was insufficient to address both the existing backlog and newly reported faults.

“The core challenge lies in the significant pricing disparities in streetlight repairs and refurbishment,” reads the report by project manager for streetlights installation and maintenance, Siyabulela Rasmeni.

“In some cases, identical line items, such as stringing per span, are priced at R75 by one service provider and R450 by another. These extreme variances undermine value for money and create procurement uncertainty, as officials are understandably hesitant to issue orders that may expose the institution to audit findings or perceptions of irregular expenditure.”

Rasmeni warned that the budget had been rapidly depleted without delivering results proportionate to the money spent, leaving residents with little to cheer for the expenditure.

“This leads to minimal visible improvements on the ground, prolonged outages and delays in restoring public lighting. Ultimately, this negatively impacts service delivery and compromises the efficient use of municipal funds.

“The directorate is currently finalising the tender documentation for LED fittings, which is scheduled to be submitted to supply chain management by the end of April 2026,” the report read.

ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said the latest electricity committee agenda exposed the deepening collapse of governance and service delivery in the metro.

“Ironically, even the committee meeting meant to deal with these urgent electricity and streetlight failures did not proceed as planned, further demonstrating the ANC coalition’s inability to stick to meeting schedules, deal with matters of priority and provide leadership while large parts of the city continue suffering from last week’s electricity outages caused by the strong winds and rain, with many residents still sitting in darkness.”

Grootboom said the report on streetlight repairs showed that critical retrofit budgets were already exhausted or close to depletion, while residents continued to endure broken streetlights and recurring outages.

On the pricing disparities, Grootboom said: “This raises serious concerns about oversight, wasteful expenditure and the complete lack of financial controls in the current administration. The people deserve a government that fixes infrastructure, protects public money and prioritises service delivery.”

Rasmeni’s report shows that, of the streetlight repair budgets allocated across the city’s eight depots, Motherwell has spent 99.6% of its allocation, while the North 1 depot has exceeded its budget, at 104% expenditure.

Ward 53: ‘Not one light repaired’

Ward 53 councillor Zwelandile Tsotso said not one streetlight had been repaired in his ward since contractors were introduced last year.

“My area is completely dark, especially now that winter is approaching. Darkness in the township attracts crime, and this is one of the reasons we need both the streetlights and high masts to be repaired.

“There is no communication about why the project has stalled; we don’t know what to tell the residents. We urgently want to meet with the project manager or go to the depot to find out. Last time I saw them was before the floods. They seemed to be waiting for something, but were not doing any work. “

Ward 2 councillor Sean Tappen said it was concerning that the city’s tourism had been affected by the failure to maintain the streetlights.

“If it wasn’t for the businesses, the beachfront would be in complete darkness, but they came together and repaired some of the streetlights. But some parks [in] the area remain in darkness, and it’s not just the residents of Summerstrand, it’s also residents from the township who come here to enjoy time with family.”

Ward 12 councillor Vernon Boggenpoel said in a video recorded on Tuesday that the municipality’s failure to fix widespread streetlight problems was also linked to its reliance on outdated lighting technology.

“For years, the municipality used the old phosphorus streetlight bulbs, which are now outdated and no longer meet the new government standard of LED only. Normally, a functioning municipality would prepare for this change years in advance, but not here.”

Boggenpoel said the municipality had a limited supply of new LED bulbs and not enough fittings to convert the old streetlights to the new system.

“What happens is that technicians get to the faulty streetlight and can’t repair it, because the correct fittings and materials are simply not available, and that’s why our streets have remained dark for years.” DM