Keeping the lights on requires rethinking South Africa’s street lighting infrastructure
By Thabo Metsing, General Manager at Genlux Lighting a division of ACTOM
South Africa’s deteriorating public street lighting network is once again under scrutiny, amid concerns that widespread and prolonged failures could have far-reaching socioeconomic impact. Beyond dark streets, poor lighting can reduce visibility for motorists and pedestrians, restrict the safe use of public spaces after dark, and heighten community safety concerns. Reliable street lighting is therefore essential to making towns and cities safer and more accessible.
Street lighting in South Africa rarely fails for a single reason. Crime, underfunded maintenance and ageing infrastructure reinforce one another, creating a cycle in which lights are repaired, only to fail again soon after. Theft and vandalism remain major challenges, particularly cable theft and the stripping of infrastructure. At the same time, illegal electricity connections often destabilise local networks, causing overloads, voltage surges and dropped neutrals that damage LED drivers and control gear. This explains why flickering and failed streetlights are so widespread.
This situation is further compounded by financial constraints, with municipalities haemorrhaging an estimated R21 billion through electricity losses in 2024/25, and the Auditor-General repeatedly flagging underinvestment in maintenance and renewal. Despite National Treasury’s recommendation that municipalities spend at least 8% of asset value on maintenance, many continue to prioritise new infrastructure over maintaining existing networks.
Failure-prone ageing infrastructure
Adding to these challenges is the reality that much of South Africa’s street lighting infrastructure is ageing. Decades-old cables and electrical components are increasingly
prone to failure, particularly where maintenance has been deferred.
Many municipalities are also forced to focus on repairing streetlights as they fail rather than taking adopting a longer-term maintenance strategy, which is largely a symptom
of constrained budgets and crisis management rather than a lack of intent. Reactive maintenance may appear cheaper in the short term, but it is far more costly over the life of a lighting network.
A proactive approach is far more effective. By maintaining accurate asset registers and using smart lighting management systems to monitor faults and tampering in real time,
municipalities can target maintenance, reduce downtime and improve efficiency.
The challenge is that procurement decisions are often driven by upfront price rather than whole-of-life cost. The cheapest option may win the tender, but higher energy use,
maintenance requirements and replacement costs can make it far more expensive over 10 to 15 years. Saving money today often means paying more tomorrow.
When selecting street lighting technology, municipalities need to ensure it is designed to withstand South African operating conditions. A luminaire that performs well in a
laboratory but fails under voltage surges, coastal corrosion, dust or vandalism is not a cost-effective solution.
The key questions are simple: Is it built for the environment? Does it comply with SANS 60598 and SANS 475? Has that compliance been independently verified by the South African
Bureau of Standards or a South African National Accreditation System-accredited laboratory? Is it manufactured
in a factory with recognised quality, safety and environmental certifications?
Durability is key
Durability matters just as much as compliance. Municipalities should look for luminaires with strong surge protection, robust IP66-rated enclosures, long service lives and
warranties that reflect confidence in the product. Anti-tamper fittings, remote monitoring and theft detection capabilities can further reduce maintenance costs and criminal interference.
Equally important is adopting a whole-of-life cost approach. The lowest purchase price rarely delivers the lowest long-term cost once energy consumption, maintenance and replacement
cycles are considered.
Finally, local manufacturing should form part of the decision. It provides faster access to spares and technical support, strengthens accountability and creates jobs. In a
country facing persistently high unemployment, infrastructure spending should not only deliver reliable lighting but also support local economic development.
Street lighting should be treated as essential public safety infrastructure, not a discretionary expense. The solution starts with procuring on whole-of-life value rather than
upfront cost, because the cheapest luminaire is often the most expensive to own.
Municipalities also need to protect maintenance budgets, use data-driven asset management and deploy technologies that deter theft, including tamper-resistant fittings, remote
monitoring and solar solutions where appropriate.
Most importantly, success requires collaboration. Municipalities, local manufacturers, businesses and communities all have a role to play in maintaining and protecting infrastructure.
When people have a stake in the network, they are far more likely to help safeguard it.
