343,000 Potholes Fixed: The Initiative Helping Keep Joburg Moving

Photo Credit: Discovery Pothole Patrol

Every Joburger has a pothole story. This one is about the people fixing them. Discovery Pothole Patrol is celebrating 5 years of impact after repairing more than 343,000 potholes throughout Johannesburg.

Johannesburg, South Africa (06 June 2026) – A pothole might seem like a small thing until you hit one. Then it becomes a damaged tyre, a costly repair bill, a dangerous swerve in traffic or another reason to feel frustrated about the city you call home.

That’s why this story matters. It’s not about the potholes… it’s about the initiative to fix them, and this month, the Discovery Pothole Patrol is celebrating five years of making Johannesburg’s roads safer.

In that time, the initiative has repaired an astonishing 343,000 potholes across the city. It’s a number that is difficult to picture, but when you consider that those repairs cover more than 86,000 square metres of road surface (roughly the size of 12 rugby fields), the impact becomes impossible to ignore.

What started in May 2021 as a partnership between Discovery Insure, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), the City of Johannesburg and Avis Southern Africa has become one of the city’s most visible examples of what can happen when businesses, government and residents work together to solve a problem.

And for many Joburgers, it has made a real difference to their daily commute.

Behind every repair is a team of around 40 people operating from eight vehicles across the city each day. They are the men and women who climb out into traffic, operate heavy machinery, work through difficult conditions and spend their days fixing roads that thousands of people will drive on long after they have moved on to the next repair.

For Robert Attwell, CEO of Discovery Insure, they deserve far more recognition than they receive.

“They work tirelessly every day repairing potholes, often without recognition, but what they are really doing is making roads safer and helping restore confidence in the city,” says Attwell. “That’s what makes them superheroes.”

The scale of the operation is impressive but what makes the story even more encouraging is the quality of the work. According to Discovery Insure, the repair teams follow a strict process and regularly inspect completed work to ensure potholes do not reopen. Their diligence has resulted in a repair success rate of more than 99% when assessed after a year.

“Many of the team members have been part of the initiative since 2021,” says Precious Nduli, Chief Commercial Officer at Discovery Insure. “They work long hours, operate heavy machinery and often work in difficult conditions, but they take enormous pride in knowing their work helps keep people safe.”

The initiative itself was born from Discovery Insure’s analysis of more than 22 billion kilometres of driving data, which highlighted deteriorating road conditions as an increasing risk for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. Rather than simply identifying the problem, the partners decided to become part of the solution.

Discovery Group Chief Executive Adrian Gore believes the programme demonstrates the ripple effect that practical interventions can have.

“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,” says Gore, adding that it helps “turn symbols of decline into evidence of progress.”

One of the most inspiring parts of the initiative is that Johannesburg residents have become active participants in the process. More than 90,000 potholes have been reported through the free Discovery Pothole Patrol app since launch, allowing communities to help identify roads that need attention.

In fact, one dedicated resident has personally reported 1,493 potholes that have since been repaired.

“That level of participation shows that people want to be part of improving the city,” says Nduli. “When residents report potholes through the app, they are playing an active role in helping make Johannesburg’s roads safer.”

She says one of the biggest motivators for the repair teams is the reaction they receive from residents.

“When residents see the Pothole Patrol teams on the road, they often hoot, wave or stop to thank them. That support means a lot to the teams because they can see the difference they are making in people’s daily lives,” she says.

For Avis Southern Africa, the partnership has been about helping the teams get where they need to be.

“As a proud mobility partner of the Discovery Pothole Patrol initiative, we are honoured to celebrate five years of meaningful impact and collaboration in keeping Johannesburg’s roads safer and more accessible for all road users,” says Litha Nkombisa, Chief Sales Executive at Avis Southern Africa.

The Johannesburg Roads Agency agrees that the milestone highlights what is possible when different sectors work together around a common goal.

“Through the Discovery Pothole Patrol partnership, we have demonstrated that when government and the private sector work together with a shared commitment to residents, we can achieve meaningful and measurable impact,” says JRA CEO Zweli Nyathi.

There is no shortage of stories about what is broken in South Africa. They dominate conversations, headlines, water-cooler talk and social media feeds. But every now and then, there is a story about people rolling up their sleeves, tackling a problem head-on and sticking with it long enough to make a real difference.

343,000 potholes later, this is one of those stories.