The Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula launched the national pothole campaign, known as Operation Valazonke in Nguni or Operation Kwala Kaofela in Sesotho, on August 8 this year. The campaign aims change the face of municipal and provincial roads from pothole-riddled to an acceptable state of repair.

The launch will be replicated across the country with Premiers and MECs leading Provincial launches.

The Minister explained that when he took an inspection of the N12 national road in Wolmaransstad in the North-West earlier this year, as a follow-up on the Presidential Imbizo held in March, he was made aware of the severity of the pothole problem in the province.

“This is the reality of many communities in all our Provinces. The bad roads, caused mainly by potholes, are one of the major hindrances to economic growth,” he said.

He elaborated that the national policy on road infrastructure is anchored on the National Development Plan which urges an investment in a strong network of economic infrastructure designed to support the country’s medium and long -term objectives to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth by 2030. Achieving this vision requires targeted development of transport, as one of the sectors that make up the network industries.

Further, government’s infrastructure development plan is an important building block in revitalising South Africa’s economy and job creation. In turn, this exponentially improves efforts to ensure sustainable livelihoods for South Africans.

“We are therefore collectively enjoined to ensure that the state of repair of our road network is in an acceptable condition across spheres of government. Addressing the maintenance challenges and backlog in our road network starts with putting in place measures that will halt the deterioration of our roads. Attending to potholes as soon as possible after the occur is the most effective way to arrest this this decline.”

Therefore, the Department of Transport engaged extensively with other spheres of government on the implementation of a campaign that will ensure a singular focus on the pothole challenge. Cabinet equally endorsed this campaign which brings its collective capacity to bear to tackle potholes in municipalities and provinces.

The department designated South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) to be the implementing agency for this campaign. Sanral will coordinate the effort working with provinces and municipalities to ensure potholes are attended to speedily.

“Potholes have been tormenting our people for many years, with a number of municipalities struggling to address this challenge due to capacity issues. The majority of these potholes are found on municipal and provincial roads,” said Mbalula.

He added that national roads remain pothole free, partly because of Sanral’s proactive approach to fixing potholes, which has a policy of fixing any reported potholes within 48 hours. While national roads are overwhelmingly in a pristine condition, the department recognises that provincial and municipal roads require a decisive strategy and active support to augment capacity gaps.

Fixing the potholes on the country’s roads is an enormous task, which will take time, however the department is confident that through the coordinated approach led by Sanral, it will be able to tackle this task.

Pothole Reporting App

Mbalula added that complaints about potholes dominate social media and are a major contributor to negative sentiment towards the government and the country. Therefore, as part of the campaign, the department also launched a pothole reporting application, which the public will be able to use to report any potholes they might encounter.

The application will work in conjunction with the Sanral pothole management App and will allow the public to raise any issues, upload pictures of potholes, provide real-time location of the road on an interactive map that will show the owners of the different roads. The app will also provide status updates on issues raised using a pothole ticketing system.

The information then gets assigned to the relevant authority, depending on where the road is, and the maintenance depot responsible for that road attends to fixing the pothole.

Over the next six months, which is the duration of this campaign, the department will closely monitor and assess the impact of the interventions. A monitoring and evaluation capability has been put in place which will enable Sanral to generate audit reports, which will form the basis for validation of the work undertaken and the turnaround time in attending to potholes.

“Through this intervention, we are raising the bar on service delivery by ensuring that the voice of the citizen is heard,” said Mbalula.

He saw the launch as an important step to give practical expression to effective coxoperative governance aimed at improving service delivery across spheres of government. The effort builds on the District Development Model which emphasises a seamlessly integrated approach to delivering services to the people.

“If we are to succeed in eradicating potholes and improving the quality of our roads, we must create a multiplier effect to the initiative by inviting the participation of the private sector,” added Mbalula.

As part of its stakeholder engagements, the department will reach out to private companies, communities and other stakeholders to play their part in supporting government efforts of preserving and improving our road infrastructure.

Through partnerships with institutions of learning and the sector education and training authorities, the department will infuse a strong skills development methodology to the intervention. A skills revolution must become a pillar of this intervention at all levels of government, concluded Mbalula.