Who will fix the potholes on my street in Johannesburg? – Fikile Mbalula

The Secretary General of the African National Congress, Fikile Mbalula, said that service delivery in the City of Johannesburg was much more efficient under the ANC.

Johannesburg is currently governed by an ANC-run coalition with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the Patriotic Alliance (PA), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and other minority parties. 

The ANC is the largest party in the coalition, and its party member, Dada Morero, holds the position of mayor.

Mbalula complained during an interview with Standard Bank Chief Economist Goolam Ballim that there are potholes on his street in the suburbs of Johannesburg due to recent rains.

“Who is going to fix these potholes?” he asked. “I report that pothole, and now who is going to close it?”

“The capacity of the Johannesburg metro, like it used to be, under the ANC, you had Pikitup, you had everything going in the right direction with all the entities that were created here. Immediately, potholes were closed.”

The Secretary General is likely referring to the period before the 2016 local government elections, when the ANC held a majority in Johannesburg. 

The ANC ruled the city consistently since the 90s, but lost its outright majority in Johannesburg in 2016, when the metro became a hung council.

Since 2016, the city has been ruled by a series of uncomfortable coalitions, with 10 different mayors over the last 10 years. 

Service delivery was better under the ANC – Mbalula

Data shows that service delivery in Johannesburg by Mbalula’s standards faced similar issues under an ANC majority as it does today under an ANC coalition. 

Mbalula cites issues with Pikitup in the current coalition, after the waste collection service embarked on a weeks-long strike earlier this year that left residents in Randburg wading through rubbish.

Reports show that Pikitup workers embarked on a similar strike in March, 2016 while the ANC was still in full control of the city. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said at the time that the strike raged on for three weeks while workers trashed the streets. 

On the other hand, Mbalula’s claims that potholes were repaired faster before 2016 may be correct. 

In 2016, the Johannesburg Roads Agency fell short of its goal to repair 90% of reported potholes within 3 days, repairing only 52.5% of potholes within this time frame in the first quarter.

In contrast, by 2024, this timeframe had been expanded, with the city aiming now to repair potholes within 30 days. In the first quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year, it repaired 80% of potholes within this time, but only 40% in under 14 days. 

Mbalula said that this previous service delivery capacity must come back to South Africa’s richest city. He said that these are the interventions the ANC will employ if it wins the upcoming local government elections. 

ANC mayor under fire

Under the current ANC-run coalition, Mayor Dada Morero has faced sharp criticism for service delivery failures. 

Most recently, these critiques relate to a water crisis in which residents of Johannesburg’s suburbs took to the streets to demand water after weeks of dry taps in Melville and surrounding areas.

Johannesburg’s non-revenue water statistic is currently over 45%, whereas the Department of Water and Sanitation specifies that this must be below around 25%.

NRW is the volume of potable water distributed for which the municipality receives no income. Looking at just leaks, Johannesburg loses around a third of its water.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Director-General Dr. Shaun Phillips told Parliament in September 2025 that Rand Water provides sufficient water to meet municipal needs in Gauteng.

“If they were to reduce leaks in their distribution systems and invest more in distribution infrastructure, including storage and pumping capacity, this issue would not exist,” he said.

Prior to this, Morero was critiqued by opposition parties for his failure to upkeep the city following the G20 Leaders Summit in late 2025. 

DA’s Johannesburg Caucus Leader, Belinder Kayser Echeozonjoko, said that the Mayor and his MMCs have abandoned their responsibilities since the summit. 

“City Power has offered nothing but generic excuses, while ward councillors face threats from the construction mafia because the ANC has failed to uphold basic law and order,” she said.

Videos circulating on the social media platform X showed the Johannesburg CBD in a poor state; one such video referenced by Mayor Morero said Johannesburg had returned to “factory settings”.

The videos showed litter covering the roads and sewage leakages spilling onto the streets. 

In January, Mayor Dada Morero admitted that the city is regressing. “Officials have dropped the ball. I said this in December, but we are not folding,” Morero responded to complaints on X.