The City of Johannesburg and the Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) have formalised a partnership to improve service delivery and strengthen collaboration between the municipality and residents.

Marked by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), the partnership will allow the LRA to play a more active role in addressing local infrastructure challenges, including potholes, while working alongside the city.

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Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero welcomed the initiative, saying partnerships between government, residents, businesses and community organisations were essential to improving the city.

Morero said the city began developing its partnership approach in 2023, with a partnership committee established in 2025. “The intention therefore was to really implement government policy, which is what we call the district development model,” Morero said.

He said the model encouraged government, the private sector, institutions and communities to pool their resources and work together for the benefit of residents. “This is the outcome of those partnerships. It’s very much important that if all of us work for the good of the city, all of us will benefit from the results of those projects.”

Road maintenance and budget allocation

The partnership comes as the city faces significant road maintenance challenges. Morero said Region A currently has about 2 704 potholes, while the region has approximately 1 500 road networks requiring attention.

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He said the city was looking at an investment of about R150m to accelerate road resurfacing and pothole repairs, with a greater focus on resurfacing roads to extend their lifespan. “We need to invest more into road resurfacing because it will give us a much longer lifespan of the road as opposed to just patching,” Morero said.

The proposed investment would also include equipment and trucks needed to transport and keep asphalt warm from depots to repair sites.

Community impact and supply challenges

Ward 94 councillor David Foley said the partnership could make a significant difference in Lonehill and Beverley, particularly as the rainy season approaches. Foley said Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) had faced challenges with asphalt production, resulting in a period of about 40 days without tar being available.

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He said the arrival of a new supplier should improve the situation, but partnerships such as the one with the LRA would help ensure smaller potholes were addressed before they became larger problems. “These little potholes that pop up every now and again, especially with the rain coming now, if you attack them or resolve them quicker, then you don’t have these massive dongers,” Foley said.

LRA general manager Keith Rampton said the association was positive about the partnership and had already established a strong working relationship with the community and the city through other initiatives.

“We’re very positive about this, as this arrangement is already building on work the LRA already undertakes in Lonehill, including grass cutting and the maintenance of green spaces through its existing park adoption agreement.”

Rampton said the association’s teams were already active on the ground and therefore had a good understanding of local issues. He said the pothole initiative could be the beginning of broader co-operation.

“We’ve now got the potholes. Hopefully next year, we can paint the roads, and maybe, going down the road, we can fix the traffic lights as well,” he said.

For Lonehill residents, the partnership represents a shift towards a more collaborative approach to service delivery, with the LRA positioned to help identify and address local problems while the city remains responsible for municipal oversight and broader infrastructure programmes.

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