The safety of Ekurhuleni residents and their belongings is at risk due to the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport’s insufficient budget to repair all the provincial streetlights in this metro.
It is no longer safe to travel in and around Ekurhuleni at night. The streets are dark, which might result in road accidents and carjacking. The safety of pedestrians is under siege as criminals take advantage of the darkness.
This information was revealed by the Gauteng MEC for Roads, Transport and Logistics Kedibone Diale Tlabela in a reply to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).
According to the MEC, the department only has 16% of the money needed to repair all the provincial road streetlights within the City of Ekurhuleni.
The department has allocated R5 500 000 in the 2025/26 budget to repair streetlights in Ekurhuleni, while R33 483 24.37 is needed to ensure that all the streetlights are fixed.
The DA in Gauteng demands to know what happened to the money collected from motor vehicle licences. In the 2022/23 financial year, Gauteng collected over R4.6 billion in motor vehicle licence fees. Residents pay motor vehicle licences to have safe roads to travel on.
I will be tabling follow-up questions in the GPL to MEC Kedibone Diale Tlabela to ascertain how the money collected from vehicle licences is allocated.
A DA-led Gauteng provincial government would immediately ensure that a portion of the money collected from motor vehicle licences is used for provincial road maintenance.