Potholes Get Attention in Johannesburg's Ward 90
Joburg mayor Dada Morero with members of the mayoral committe and the officials from the Johannesburg Roads Agency at Hyde Park in Johannesburg, 10 July 2025, during the launch of the War on Potholes campaign at Ward 90. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/ The Citizen
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has launched 'war on potholes' at Ward 90. This campaign is set to deliver on the mayor's commitment from the State of the City Address to prioritise road infrastructure, enhance mobility and restore service delivery.
Mayor preaches 'high impact service delivery'
Marking a year in office, the mayor admits to cracks under his leadership.
When speaking to The Citizen, Morero emphasised, 'my argument has always been planning and management issues which were weaknesses we are correcting. That is why you can see that it's possible, this thing can be done so we are doing it. We have corrected management and supervision weaknesses, and we believe with motivated staff and leadership, we will these results that we want.'
The campaign is set to tackle Ward 90's potholes and more by the end of August. It will then be followed assessed to further fix what might have been missed during the operation.
'By the time we leave here, month-end of August, there will be no potholes here. That is the commitment we are making, we would have cleared all potholes and storm water blockages that are there. We would have also dealt with streetlights and traffic signals.'
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero levelling tar to close a pothole. Video: Molemo Tladi
ALSO READ: DA's motion against mayor a self-serving tactic
Martin William, ward counsellor of Ward 90 expressed, 'this arose because less than a month ago the mayor said at a press conference that there were no potholes in ward 90, I disputed that. I gave him a new list this morning.'
With the mayor and members of the mayoral committee walking to the first two areas to be tackled in what seemed to be a media frenzy, the counsellor said, 'We're very pleased that the mayor is here with all these people and that the ward is getting all this attention. The proof of the pudding will come later; we'll have to do another check.'
Money to be spent
When commenting on the amount of money to be allocated to this campaign, Morero said, 'We are looking at considerable amounts probably in the ranges of R300 [million] to R700 million, there's also money for resurfacing. So we will spend, the idea also is about spending and ensure that we have spent. The whole idea is that we must respond, there's no excuse, we must respond to infrastructure challenges.'
Morero confirmed that no new employees were recruited for the campaign.
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