As part of ramping up efforts to fix potholes transport minister Fikile Mbalula today launched Operation Vala Zonke App aimed at fixing municipal and provincial roads.
Mbalula, has encouraged the public to report potholes on municipal and provincial roads on a newly launched app in order to enable government to repair them speedily.
Addressing the launch of Operation Vala Zonke – a comprehensive programme to address potholes across all spheres of government, the Minister said the app can be downloaded on Google Playstore and the Apple App store.
“The app will work in conjunction with the South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (SANRAL) pothole management app and will allow the public to raise any issues, upload pictures of potholes, and 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,” Mbalula said in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng Province.
As the implementing agency for this campaign, Sanral will closely monitor and assess the impact of the interventions over the next six months, which is the duration of the campaign.
A monitoring and evaluation capability has been put in place. This 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.
“This campaign will change the face of our municipal and provincial roads from pothole-riddled to an acceptable state of repair. This launch will be replicated across the country with Premiers and MECs leading provincial launches,” Mbalula added.
He said Sanral will co-ordinate the effort of working with the provinces and municipalities to ensure potholes are attended to speedily.
“Sanral 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.
“Potholes have remained a problem and have posed a danger to road users throughout the country. Potholes are particularly dangerous at night or in rainy weather,” Mbalula said.
He further appealed to motorists to drive safely on the roads, irrespective of whether there are potholes or not.
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