New brooms sweep in Jozi, Ekurhuleni in fight against potholes

The new brooms in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni councils are sweeping hard to clean up years of neglect they blame on previous, mostly ANC-led, leadership.

Both councils are ruled by minority coalitions led by Democratic Alliance (DA) mayors, intent on tackling potholes and repairing infrastructure before the 2 March, 100-day mark for new councils.

The City of Joburg said it has implemented a 72-hour turnaround time to fix potholes and has set up an e-mail address for reporting them.

It also relies on Dial Direct and Discovery to continue its cavity-filling initiatives.

“The presence of potholes on the city’s streets, whether in Diepsloot or Saxonwold, speaks of years of forgotten maintenance and aged infrastructure. And we are determined to ensure that, with the available budget and
our councillors on the ground, we are able to make progress in this area,” said Joburg mayoral spokesperson Mabine Seabe.

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Ratepayers must report potholes to their ward councillors or make use of the hotline. In Ekurhuleni, mayor Tania
Campbell led a multiparty workshop last week to take on infrastructure challenges.

They plan to establish an Ekurhuleni Roads Agency to tackle potholes, maintenance and infrastructure development. It will also seek public private partnerships to aid in fast-tracking pothole mending.

Campbell said Ekurhuleni now has an energy master plan.

“It provides an in-depth road map on how the city will renew and maintain its energy infrastructure.

“The Multi-Party Coalition will ensure that this plan is executed,” she said.

The council is also mulling the establishment of an infrastructure protection unit within the metro police to protect assets such as cabling from theft and prosecute perpetrators.

Next month, Johannesburg plans to host an Energy Indaba.

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“This will map a future where the city has little reliance on Eskom,” Seabe said.

Johannesburg has also started an inner city clean-up and the evictions and prosecution of illegal occupants in so-called hijacked buildings are planned.

Both coalitions list several initiatives and programmes in what Seabe called a “Golden Start”.

But fixing public assets after “years of neglect” will have a hefty price tag.

Campbell said capital expenditure was “focused on what we define as ‘vanity projects’ that sought to serve the egos of the previous administration”.

Seabe said Johannesburg is facing a similar challenge.

“Money is tight but we have taken steps to increase revenue collection.”