Vandals Ruin Durban CDB Annual Festive Season Tradition, Fixing Infrastructure Delays Icon Lighting Ceremony

• The iconic Durban CBD Christmas light is causing some drama in the KwaZulu-Natal city
• Despite being up for two weeks, the Christmas lights have yet to be switched due to vandalism
• The eThekwini municipality assured disappointed residents and holidaymakers that the display would be switched on by Friday, 23 December

DURBAN - The eThekwini municipality has been so busy trying to fix sabotaged infrastructure that it could not perform its annual tradition of turning on the iconic Christmas lights in Durban CBD.

The iconic lighting ceremony signals the start of the city's festive season, but despite being installed for two weeks, they have yet to be switched on.

African National Congress councillor Nkosenhle Madala revealed that the delay was due to vandalism when the municipality came under fire from community members and other councillors.

According to IOL, upset Durban residents said the delay was embarrassing and signalled that municipal governance had collapsed.

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Democratic Alliance councillor in the metro, Sharimane Sewshanker, complained that the lights were installed very late in 2022, making the city look bad.

The councillor added that she thought the municipality would have made this year's display one of the best to impress the influx of tourists who were expected to visit the area.

Sewshanker said:

"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.”

Madlala said that the Christmas lights were linked to the street lights. The councillor added that the municipality was addressing the street lights issue, which were rendered non-operational because of vandalism.

Madlala assured that the Christmas lights would be turned on on Friday, 23 December, once the vandalism issue is addressed, East Coast Radio reported.

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South Africans react to the Durban Christmas lights drama

@LB60967736 complained:

"Absolute disgrace @eThekwiniM ruining this city."

@Brettbenraphael asked:

"Not Eskom?? They are usually the ones putting the lights out."

@Sabelo01527370 commented:

"At least Durban still has the decency to put those Christmas lights up."

@BrianBlumfield claimed:

"It's not as if anyone cares, anyway. That's the least of eThekwini's problems."

@anti_ANC added:

"Durban is dead. Another one of the ANC's massive achievements. A whole city, is dead."

ActionSA calls for all Durban beaches to be closed after municipality failed to prevent triple drowning

Earlier, Briefly News reported that ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal called for all the beaches in Durban to be closed after three people drowned at Durban's North Beach on Saturday, 17 December.

The minority opposition party's provincial chairperson Zwakele Mncwango blamed the eThekwini municipality for failing to prevent the incident from happening again by putting measures in place.

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Mncwango claimed that a leaked report revealed that the municipality irregularly appointed Lifesaving South Africa to train lifeguards.

Source: Briefly News