The Board did some research and has determined that citizens may legally repair potholes and claim back from the relevant roads departments.

There are however some rules and processes around doing so:

1. Report pothole.
2. Wait 30 days.
3. Get 2 quotes (evidently the integrity and preparation of the ground surface beneath the repair needs as much attention as the repair itself.
4. Repair the pothole.
5. Submit claim.

But. And this is a huge but: there are absolutely no funds in the JRA kitty whatsoever. Apparently their massive campaign in February to repair the cities potholes used their entire budget.

There is more info about this in this article:

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/south-africans-can-fix-potholes-and...
A precedent-setting High Court ruling means South Africans ‘gatvol’ with government can now take care of their own basic service delivery issues and make the state pay for it.