The escalating number of insurance claims against the eThekwini municipality arising from injuries or damages to vehicles through potholes has forced the city to review its pothole maintenance policy.
Municipal manager S’bu Sithole said yesterday that at present potholes were fixed 14 days after they were reported.
The city had set the policy to fix potholes within 14 days after a Pietermaritzburg advocate, Allistair McIntosh, had won R15 million in damages in 2009 after suing the pro- vincial Transport Department for compensation for injuries sustained when he had crashed on the P164 Rosetta-Kamberg road in 2004.
He had tried to avoid a pothole while cycling. McIntosh’s case was dismissed by the Pietermaritzburg High Court, but he won on appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
“We need to review the current standards set by the city of how we deal with potholes, especially in view of the escalation of claims against the city. We don’t want to come up with a standard that is completely unmanageable,” he said.
The city’s head of legal services, Nokhana Moerane, said the municipality was often forced to accept liability of about 60 percent because of the time it took to attend to potholes after they had been reported.
“We have a lot of cases such as [damage] to vehicles or people due to potholes. In the case of McIntosh, the court found that we have an obligation to put signs notifying people about potholes or fix them within two days or accept part liability. We stand to lose a lot of money as a result of this,” she said.
Liability
Sithole said the city would try to reduce the extent of liability it was forced to accept through a review of its 14-day pothole repair policy.
“Compared with other municipalities, eThekwini is doing far better in terms of fixing potholes. Most townships in the city have tarred roads… We have a programme that tells us when our roads are due for rehabilitation and upgrade,” he said.
Moerane also presented a report to the executive committee yesterday detailing at least 15 legal cases against the municipality, which included:
l Damages to the tune of R10m for alleged medical ne-gligence at a municipal clinic.
l R800 000 for the impounding of a vehicle and the emotional trauma as a result.
l A R2.4m claim for unlawful arrest and detention.
l Two separate claims re-lated to assault, unlawful arrest and detention – one for R8.2m and the other for R8.1m.
l An ongoing legal dispute between the municipality and the Ingonyama Trust, which owns 3 million hectares, or 32 percent of all land in the province, over whether it is required to pay rates. The trust owes the city about R300m.
After the report was tabled, Sithole said it should have been discussed during a closed meeting because, he claimed, the issues detailed by Moerane were “sub judice”.
Deputy mayor Nomvuzo Shabalala then asked the media not to report on the matter, saying the information was “off the record”.
However, DA councillor Tex Collins strongly disagreed with Shabalala, saying most of the issues in the report were already in the public domain.
l To report a pothole, dial the eThekwini call centre toll-free number 080 131 3013.
