23/12/2022
Vandalism puts out ’s lights in the Durban CBD
Durban - The iconic Christmas lights, which are put up in the Durban CBD by the eThekwini Municipality to signal the beginning of the festive season, have not been switched on despite being installed two weeks ago.
The city said yesterday it could not perform its annual tradition of turning on the lights as it was working around the clock to fix street light infrastructure that had been vandalised.
The has come under fire from community members as well as councillors, who described the matter as “embarrassing” and indicative of the collapse of municipal governance.
Ratepayer organisations and opposition party councillors said the Christmas lights matter was just one in a string of issues that pointed to serious failures in governance.
Asad Gaffar of the Westville Ratepayers’ Association said the city was collapsing at a faster pace than people realised.
“We are crying for them to fix the normal street lights, but you expect them to put up the Christmas lights. The Christmas lights were the main attraction in Durban when I was growing up,” he said. “It’s not just the lights, it’s the that looks , and that is affecting tourism, which is affecting employment.”
He said it was clear that the leadership of the city was not interested in addressing the problems that were affecting it, and instead were inward looking and worried about themselves.
DA councillor in the CBD, Sharmaine Sewshanker, said the situation was embarrassing. “The lights were installed very late this year but it’s a very poor display … it’s really disappointing as many locals and tourists look forward to the display. With the influx of visitors and tourists tipped to visit eThekwini this festive season I would have thought that eThekwini Municipality would have put on one of their best displays ever. But like the thousands of street lights that don't work, it’s no surprise that the lights went out on the much-awaited display.”
councillor Mdu Nkosi agreed that the situation was an embarrassment.
“One wonders what is happening in this city, nothing seems to be going right. People are complaining about water, electricity, roads that have collapsed on to people’s houses after the recent rains.
“It is high time that the officials come out and tell us what exactly is the problem, if they are being interfered with which prevents them from being able to do their jobs, and to explain if the municipality still has any money left in its coffers,” he said.
councillor Thabani Mthethwa said that the issue of the Christmas lights could not be looked at in isolation.
“It’s not surprising that the lights are not working, the issue of the lights is nothing, it is a reflection of the failure of leadership and planning in the city.”
