As government’s Operation Vala Zonke pothole repair campaign gains momentum, the Department of Transport and South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) have implored the public to continue reporting potholes through the Sanral app.

Although the app recently experienced a bumpy start, including not being available for Android for a few days and technical glitches in the registration process, Sanral has assured the public that these issues have been ironed out and that the app is running smoothly on Android and iOS devices.

“The pothole reporting function is running smoothly now, although we are still working on the feedback function. The important thing is that potholes are being reported to the maintenance teams concerned, and we are streamlining that process further,” says Sanral app project manager Andrew Mac Kellar.

The Sanral Pothole app is free to download and easy to operate. It opens up a camera for taking a  picture of the pothole, while the system automatically records the global positioning system location.

The information then gets assigned to the relevant authority, depending on the location of the road, and the responsible maintenance depot attends to fixing the pothole. The person reporting the pothole is notified that the report has been received, and when the pothole has been fixed.

The pothole repair campaign stemmed from President Cyril Ramaphosa declaring “war” on the irksome road issue earlier this year.

Sanral explains that roads are worn down by use, particularly in areas with high traffic volumes and heavy vehicles travelling, and eroded by low and high temperatures, leading to cracks that get wider as rainwater seeps in. 

Key to preventing potholes is regular routine maintenance to ensure rain or stormwater flows off the road surface as quickly as possible.

However, Sanral western region manager Randall Cable explains that while poor maintenance is often cited as the main cause of potholes, the damage caused to roads by heavy vehicles, especially overloaded vehicles, is a major contributing factor.

“Heavy vehicles using roads which were not designed to carry such loads, is a serious concern.  Overloaded heavy vehicles cause the greatest amount of damage to roads, even in a single instance of transgression. 

“A single overloaded axle and associated wheel pressures that are above the permissible limits, will have a detrimental impact on the asset value of the road, causing longer-term damage of which potholes are one of the symptoms,” Cable notes.

According to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, one pothole costs between R700 and R1 500 per square meter to repair; however, can be more costly if proper workmanship is not applied.

Bafenyi Asphalt MD Otsile Mpela notes that poor workmanship is one of the greatest obstacles to achieving quality pothole repair and edge-break repairs.

Cable says tackling the pothole pandemic in South Africa is not a simple matter of slapping on a hot-asphalt band aid and steering away from the problem.

Rather, the public has to provide its support through the Sanral app to help ensure that Operation Vala Zonke delivers on its promise to fix potholes on all South African roads.