THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has been implored to fix tower lights and streetlights in order to reduce cases of people being mugged and house break-ins at night.
Only a few tower lights are functioning especially in the western suburbs with cases of people being robbed of their valuables on the rise.
In an interview with CITE, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) secretary, Thembelani Dube said the move by the city council to fix the malfunctioning tower lights will reduce crime and save lives.
“Dark spots are a haven for criminals and all forms of nefarious activities that happen in the city. Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association is therefore urging BCC to urgently attend to non-functional tower lights to save people’s lives and lower the criminal activities being recorded in the city,” Dube said.
Residents have for long been appealing to the local authority to act on the matter as they are convinced that thieves take advantage of the darkness to rob them of their valuables.
Two years ago, BCC admitted that they are not in a good position to fix the lights because they are incapacitated as they lack funding.
The local authority also implicated citizens in deliberately vandalizing and ripping off armoured cables that supply power to the tower lights.
Areas such as Cowdray Park, Luveve, Magwegwe, and Lobengula among others do not have functioning street lights and have in the last few weeks recorded robbery cases.
Last week, a Lobengula based business entrepreneur who owned a tuck-shop in the area was attacked and killed by a machete-wielding gang who stormed into his house in the middle of the night, and attacked him before fleeing with US$25.
