Pothole Patrol: Discovery’s 300,000 Repairs Show How Business Can Fix Joburg’s Roads

When Discovery first teamed up with Dialdirect and the City of Johannesburg five years ago to tackle the city’s pothole crisis, few imagined just how big the project would become. Today, the Pothole Patrol has repaired more than 312,000 potholes, reshaping not just Johannesburg’s roads, but also the relationship between business and public service delivery.

More than just smooth roads

Every Joburger has a pothole story, a burst tyre on Jan Smuts Avenue, a bent rim in Randburg, or a dreaded swerve on Louis Botha Avenue during a summer storm. For years, potholes have been more than a nuisance; they’ve been a symbol of frustration with failing infrastructure.

Discovery’s CEO Adrian Gore sees the project as more than road repair. He calls it a shared-value model in action, where business invests in community well-being while still protecting its bottom line.

For Discovery Insure, the company’s short-term insurance arm, fewer potholes mean fewer accident claims. Yet the benefit isn’t limited to Discovery. “Our competitors benefit too,” Gore admitted in a recent presentation, noting that all insurers save when fewer motorists are forced into costly repairs.

A costly problem for South Africa

It’s no small issue. Potholes cost South Africa an estimated R650 million in vehicle damage every year, draining both households and insurers. The problem is especially bad in Johannesburg, where heavy summer rains, neglected road maintenance, and a flood of freight trucks, rerouted from rail due to Transnet’s decline leave roads battered and crumbling.

The longer a pothole goes unattended, the worse it gets. Layers of tar give way to water and traffic, creating deep craters that can wreck suspensions in seconds. Motorists on social media regularly share horror stories of late-night breakdowns, with many praising the Pothole Patrol as one of the few interventions that actually makes a visible difference.

Pothole Patrol’s reach

Since launch, the team has been fixing around 60,000 potholes a year and resurfacing more than 40km of Johannesburg’s roads. It’s a massive undertaking, but still just a dent in the national crisis. Experts estimate that at any given moment, South Africa has between 50,000 and 100,000 potholes waiting for repair.

That scale highlights both the success and the limitation of corporate-driven interventions. As Gore put it, business can help “improve service delivery and the livelihood of citizens,” but government still carries the primary responsibility for infrastructure.

Boosting Discovery Insure’s bottom line

Behind the civic pride lies a hard business case. Discovery Insure, launched 15 years ago, has become a key profit driver for the group. In the 2025 financial year, it posted an operating profit of R739 million and a margin of nearly 12%.

Part of this success comes from tighter underwriting, smarter pricing, and fewer weather-related claims. But the Pothole Patrol also plays its role, reducing the number of expensive accident claims linked to road damage. Gore told analysts the savings alone justify the initiative, a rare example where doing good in the community and doing well in business align perfectly.

A shared responsibility

For Joburg drivers, the difference is already visible. Roads that were once minefields are slowly being patched. While the city’s pothole backlog remains daunting, the Pothole Patrol has shown that partnerships between business and government can deliver practical results something residents often complain is in short supply.

Still, the project raises bigger questions: Should South Africa rely on companies to fix what government should? Or is this the new normal, a shared responsibility model where survival and progress demand that business steps in?

Either way, as thousands of motorists navigate smoother rides to work or school, the Pothole Patrol has earned its place as a rare good news story in Johannesburg’s ongoing battle with crumbling infrastructure.

{Source: Daily Investor}

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