BULAWAYO residents have raised concern over lack of street lights including tower lights saying their unavailability has led to a spike in crime rate in Zimbabwe’s second largest city.
This follows a report from the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) that at least 60% of the city’s tower lights were not functioning across the city.
Acting BCC spokesperson Bongiwe Ngwenya recently revealed that 258 out of 429 tower lights in the city were not functioning.
Bulawayo United Residents Association chairperson, Winos Dube told Southern Eye that the Bulawayo City Council should make it a point to fix tower lights and street lights.
Residents have been called upon to report non-functional lights timeously.
“City council has to fix tower lights and street lights in the city because they are a source of security. People need to feel safe when they walk around but due to lack of tower lights, cases of theft and robbery in the city have increased,” Dube said.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association secretary for administration Thembelani Dube concurred, adding that residents should report malfunctioning tower lights to ward councillors.
“We have always emphasised that cases of malfunctioning street and tower lights should be disclosed to ward councillors so that they report to the engineers who deal with those.
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“The engineers should also immediately go there to fix the lights. Communities should have enough lights for protection as some people knock off late from their places of work. Therefore much lighting is needed so that cases of theft and robbery are curbed,” he said.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said residents should work with the police to identify dark and secluded areas so that they are protected.
“We are always urging residents to engage us so that police will cover secluded areas. We receive many cases but it’s difficult for us to say it’s because the crime happened in the dark due lack of street and tower lights, therefore, that’s the reason why we ask that residents engage us at all time,” Ncube said.
