Pretoria - Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula has launched the nationwide campaign to repair potholes and turn the roads into acceptable standards.
On Monday Mbalula was joined by Gauteng Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure MEC Jacob Mamabolo for the launch of the initiative, known as Operation Vala Zonke
Mbalula used the words of former Cuban president Fidel Castro, which he said aptly captured the essence of the campaign: “I would not vote for the mayor. It is not just because he did not invite me to dinner, but because on my way into town from the airport, there were such enormous potholes.”
He added: “When I undertook an inspection of the N12 in Wolmaransstad in the North West earlier this year, as a follow-up on the presidential imbizo held in March, I was made aware of the severity of the pothole problem in that 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.
“Our national policy on road infrastructure is anchored on the National Development Plan, which enjoins us to invest in a strong network of economic infrastructure designed to support the country’s medium and long-term objectives if we are 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.
“Government’s infrastructure development plan is an important building block in revitalising South Africa’s economy and job creation. This will, in turn, exponentially improve our efforts to ensure sustainable livelihoods for many of our people.”
He said they were collectively enjoined to ensure that the state of repair of the road network was 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 occurrence is the most effective way to arrest this decline.”
Mbalula said his department engaged extensively with other spheres of government on the implementation of a campaign to ensure a singular focus on the pothole challenge. He added that Cabinet equally endorsed the campaign, which brings collective capacity to bear to tackle potholes in our municipalities and provinces.
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has been designated as the implementing entity for this campaign to co-ordinate the effort of working with provinces and municipalities that attended to pothole problems 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.
“In the main, our national roads remain pothole free, partly because of Sanral’s proactive approach to fixing potholes.
“Sanral’s has a policy of fixing any reported potholes within 48 hours. While national roads are overwhelmingly in a pristine condition, we recognise that provincial and municipal roads require a decisive strategy and active support to augment capacity gaps.”
Mbalula acknowledged the complaints about potholes dominated social media and were a major contributor to negative sentiment towards the government and the country.
As part of this campaign, the department launched a pothole reporting App, which the public will be able to use to report any potholes they might encounter.
It 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. It 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.
This is a six-month campaign, and its effectiveness will be assessed at the end of the programme, with reports to be delivered by Sanral.
Pretoria News