WATCH: Mbalula aka Mr Fix rolls out pothole plan to save your tyres

Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula also known as Mr Fix has officially rolled out a what the department of transport calls a 16-month labour intensive programme spearheaded by the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral), to address potholes in the country.  

The campaign will also allow motorists, through a new mobile app, to report craters on roads nationwide.

Mbalula announced the campaign during Operation Vala Zonke in Vanderbijlpark, in the Vaal, on Monday.

“The Vala Zonke programme is targeting the potholes in the main roads, in the regional roads, in the provinces. The president has directed me that I must launch this project nationally and I must go and work with the private sector and anyone else and then also bring the necessary skill in terms of closing potholes.

“You don’t only close the pothole for cameras… The pothole is closed after two weeks – the heavy rains come [and] the potholes open up. The pothole engineering is linked to the lifespan of the road,” Mbalula said.

Mbalula, also encouraged the public to report craters on municipal and provincial roads on a newly launched app in order to enable the government to repair them speedily.

“The app will work in conjunction with the South African National Roads Agency pothole management app and will allow the public to raise any issues; upload pictures and provide real-time location of the road on an interactive map that will show the owners of the different roads.

“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.

Smartphone users can download the newly launched Sanral Pothole App from the Google Play store and iOS App Store.

Mbalula said the app will also provide status updates on issues raised using a ticketing system.

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