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This is how you can report potholes
The country's roads require much attention, these services and apps are there to help you report potholes in your area.
Potholes in Cosmo City, Johannesburg. Picture: Twitter @JustFoza
Many drivers will agree that South Africa’s roads are unsafe. Our country’s roads are riddled with potholes and require attention.
The government is taking bold steps to modernise its systems, such as streaming their services, particularly traffic services to online, making solving these issues easier.
Speaking in Wolmaransstad in the North West as he inspected N12 on Saturday, Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula said they are working with premiers and mayors to allow SANRAL to address the challenges of potholes.
South Africa’s roads in dire state
From the roads in cities, suburbs to rural areas, the state of the country’s roads are dire.
The pothole backlog saw Roodepoort residents fix 100 potholes on key arterial routes themselves after complaints submitted to the JRA went unanswered in 2021.
Then in February, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) launched an online payment gateway for the renewal of driver and vehicle licences among other services, including pothole fixes.
Various online traffic services, which were previously only accessible by visiting a registering authority or DLTC, have been made available on the RTMC’s online platform effective immediately.
ALSO READ: RTMC snuck hidden costs into new online payment system, says OUTA
Here’s how to report potholes:
Call the hotline
Responding to a Twitter user who said potholes are a “death trip”, Mbalula suggested reporting it via a hotline. He added:
“We ask all our motorists to please report through our national hotline and we’ll get in contact with the local provincial authorities for road fixations ASAP.”
The hotline is called, Sihamba Sonke (we go together). Simply dial 086 176 2847 to log in your complaint.
Report via the app
The Pothole Patrol App is in partnership between insurers Discovery and Dialdirect allowing drivers to report potholes using geolocation data.
There is a simple registration process, such as logging in your personal details to get started.
The app allows you to log a pothole using Google Maps to locate the exact position (street name and number) of the pothole.
It gives you a repair progress notification and the road user will be notified when the pothole is repaired in real-time.
There is also a list where users can see the progress of which potholes are scheduled and in progress to be fixed.
The app is currently only available in Johannesburg however app developers are working on making it accessible to more metros.
Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele
