The war on potholes: what you need to know

Pothole-related damage and rim replacements have more than doubled over the past few years in Gauteng, according to the Tyre, Equipment and Parts Association (Tepa).

“It’s officially pothole season thanks to the April rains, and motorists are dodging craters like it’s a real-life game of Mario Kart,” said Dylan Petzer, national vice chair of Tepa.

Apart from posing a serious road safety threat, hitting a pothole can lead to expensive car repairs. It’s not only tyres that take the hit, and Petzer noted that in about 80% of cases it’s the rim that is bent, cracked or wrecked. Rim damage can also impact a car’s alignment and suspension, and that’s when things go from annoying to expensive.

But what is being done against the scourge of the dreaded wheel-busting holes on our roads?

According to the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral), the Vala Zonke national pothole campaign has made meaningful progress in tackling deteriorating road infrastructure but remains underutilised.

Launched in 2022 by the department of transport and overseen by Sanral, the programme tackles deteriorating road infrastructure. A joint effort by the nine provinces, the campaign aims to standardise and simplify the way potholes are reported by the public and repaired by road authorities through a centralised electronic system and a dedicated Vala Zonke app available on smart phones.

When the project was launched, then-transport minister Fikile Mbalula said the road infrastructure maintenance backlog was estimated to be more than R200bn, and 40% of the provincial network was reported to have reached the end of its life cycle. It’s estimated 80% of the national road network is older than its 20-year design life, Mbalula said.

The Vala Zonke app allows road users to report potholes directly from their phones. Each report is geotagged to aid in reduced response and repair times by the Vala Zonke War Room, a centralised operations hub that monitors the reports and ensures each pothole is assigned to the correct road authority for action. There are more than 250 road authorities in SA.

Despite the successful launch of the Vala Zonke app, it remains underutilised, according to a Sanral spokesperson.

“This limits the war room’s ability to maintain full oversight of reported potholes. To date, 120,123 potholes have been officially logged through the app, a number that likely represents only a fraction of the actual potholes on roads due to limited app engagement. A large number of potholes remain unreported in the poorer residential areas due to lack of access to data to report.”

The gap in reporting highlights the importance of greater participation from the public and road authorities, both in using the app and in integrating other reporting systems into the Vala Zonke platform.

“Encouragingly, provincial authorities have repaired more than four million square meters of paved road surfaces, showing clear commitment to addressing the crisis. However, accurate data remains critical for prioritising repairs, allocating resources efficiently,and holding stakeholders accountable. We urge citizens and municipalities to make full use of the Vala Zonke app so every pothole can be tracked, reported and repaired,” he said.

A challenge hindering the programme’s full potential is the lack of training among some road authorities in using the secure systems provided to report back to the war room.

“In many cases, repairs are being completed on the ground, but the status updates are not submitted through the correct channels, leading to data gaps and an incomplete national picture.”

Additional obstacles include inadequate funding and the lack of skills, leading to poor workmanship. The latter often results from inadequate preparation of potholes before filling, and such shortcuts can lead to premature failure of repairs which undermines road safety and wasting valuable resources, said Sanral.

Sanral is advocating the use of nanotechnology to strengthen road surfaces and extend their lifespan at reduced road repair costs. It has developed a standard named TRH24 and is providing training to road authorities across the country.

Another initiative is the Discovery Pothole Patrol, which has repaired more than 260,000 potholes within the Johannesburg metro. Launched in 2021, the project is a partnership between Discovery Insure and Avis Southern Africa, who have been working alongside the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the City of Johannesburg. To report a pothole in Joburg, road users can download the free Discovery Pothole Patrol mobile app.

If pothole damage happens on a national road under Sanral’s jurisdiction, you are able to lodge a claim with the roads agency. You can claim by reporting the pothole and incident to Sanral via its website or contact centre, providing photographic evidence of the incident and proof of repair costs.