It costs R50,000 to repair a pothole in Johannesburg – According to the DA

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille, claimed that it costs the City R50,000 to fix a single pothole.

Zille made this claim while speaking to Biznews, alleging that the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) spends R50,000 per pothole repair, contradicting a previous claim made by the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA).

The JRA said that it only spends R371 per pothole, creating a massive disparity between the costs claimed by the JRA and Zille.

For reference, Discovery Insure’s Pothole Patrol programme spends approximately R5,000 on each pothole it repairs around the metro.

Zille’s R50,000 pothole claim was used as an example during the interview, where she argued that Joburg was bankrupt because it paid far too much for many services, including road repairs.

“The Pothole Patrol fills a pothole for R5,000 with everything taken into account, including wages, fuel, and vehicles,” she said.

“Johannesburg spends about R50,000 per pothole. Just multiply that across an entire system, and you will see what we are talking about.”

However, there is no data to support her claim that the City of Johannesburg spends R50,000 per pothole.

Our sister publication Newsday contacted Zille to ask for the source supporting her claim, but she did not respond.

The only reference supporting the R50,000 claim comes from Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso, who spoke to Daily Maverick.

Mavuso stated that while a privately funded pothole fix costs around R7,500, the CoJ spends R65,000 per pothole.

This claim was retracted after the JRA provided accurate figures on the City’s pothole repair costs. It told Inside Metros that it had fixed 97,938 potholes across the metro during the 2025/2026 financial year.

The total cost of doing so was R36 million, equating to an average cost of R371.43 per pothole. The Daily Maverick stated that its initial article “reflected incorrect costs of fixing potholes by both the private and public sectors”. “We apologise for the errors.”

One company says goodbye to 340,000 potholes in South Africa’s richest city

While the JRA has repaired thousands of potholes, the CoJ is still struggling to keep up with its collapsing infrastructure.

Because of this, the private sector is stepping up to attend to road infrastructure issues around the metro, including pothole repairs.

Most notably, the Discovery Pothole Patrol has repaired more than 343,000 road hazards since the service was launched five years ago.

Pothole Patrol was introduced in May 2021, representing a public-private partnership between Discovery Insure, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), the City of Johannesburg, and Avis Southern Africa.

The service was formed after Discovery conducted an analysis of more than 22 billion kilometres of driving data, concluding that poor road conditions were a growing risk to all users, including motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Residents can download the free Discovery Pothole Patrol App, which is available on both iOS and Android. They can then use the app to take photos and record the locations of potholes.

Once a case is logged on the system, the service will dispatch members of its team, comprised of a crew of 40 people and eight vehicles, to the scene.

Adrian Gore, Group Chief Executive of Discovery, said the service is a great example of what a public-private partnership can achieve.

“Fixing potholes may seem like a small intervention, but it has meaningful downstream effects. Fewer potholes lead to fewer accidents, lower insurance claims and a reduced maintenance burden on the City.”