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Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero fixing a pothole, 10 July 2025.
Johannesburg residents have expressed outrage after Mayor Dada Morero announced that repairing the city’s potholes could cost approximately R700 million.
The staggering figure, announced during the launch of the city’s war on potholes campaign in Hyde Park, has ignited debate over budget priorities and years of infrastructure neglect.
Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) of Transport, Sean Kreusch, says the matter is quite laughable citing that each time the Mayor or MEC of Transport Kenny Kunene mention numbers, it’s a thumb suck.
Today we formally launched our War on Potholes — not as a media moment, but as a serious commitment to road repair, service recovery, and restoring the social contract with residents. This is just the start. Visible change is coming to all 7 regions. #FixMyJozi #JoburgServices pic.twitter.com/v8gxe0jMSa
— Executive Mayor of the City Of Joburg (@DadaMorero) July 10, 2025
Kreusch adds that the city is suffering from a maintenance backlog of nine years.
“In 2016, the JRA had capped the budget at literally R1.5 billion; we’ve seen a decline over the last nine years to roughly eight now R900 million per annum. So, for nine years, the city has been running at almost 60 percent of its budget,” says Kreusch.
PODCAST | Joburg residents outraged over cost to repair potholes:
