In little more than a month, frustrated ratepayers have logged about 600 service delivery faults, from stormwater drain blockages in Durban to potholes in Johannesburg, thanks to a new app built by a fourth-year engineering student.
Keyuren Maharaj, 22, a University of KwaZulu-Natal mechanical engineering student and chair of the Glenwood Bulwer Ratepayers and Residents Association (GBRRA), said he created the app, CityMenderSA, out of frustration.
“As active members of ratepayer associations and local civic forums, we were constantly hearing complaints about poor service delivery,” he said. “However, there was no central place to track issues, no reference numbers and no data to back our demands as residents. I decided to build a solution, something fast, transparent and resident-first. It started as a passion project and I believe that accountability begins with visibility.
“I taught myself to code and went through hundreds of hours doing research. After about 120 versions and well over 300,000 lines of code I got my first real-time working version, and since then it has gone through multiple updates.”
CityMenderSA allows anyone to report service delivery issues such as a pothole, streetlight outage, water leak or sewer spill by simply dropping a pin on a map, selecting an issue category and submitting a short description and photo.
“No login or sign-up is required,” Maharaj said. “This makes it easier to report, especially in rural communities. Once submitted, the user receives a unique reference number and their issue is plotted on the public map. This gives residents a way to track problems, share them with officials and see how many other reports are coming in from their area.
“With that reference, a resident is able to regularly update their report as well as others, therefore creating a thread and history. They are able to then download the report in a PDF form with all the information.”
In the pilot month, in partnership with the eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association and GBRRA, users have submitted reports from Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and other areas.
“We’ve been surprised by how broad the user base is, from pensioners reporting blocked storm drains to students using it,” Maharaj said. “Also, people are not just reporting issues in their own streets, they’re logging problems while travelling, going to work or visiting family, which shows how much people care beyond their front gate.
“This data can help target areas of high neglect or where maintenance has historically been poor. Imagine that you'll be able to open the application and see every issue, not only in your area but in South africa. This will also help organisations who can assist with service delivery and infrastructure.”
Maharaj said several councillors and municipal officials had shown interest and conversations were under way to pilot a municipal portal for officials, providing an easy-to-use dashboard to track and manage service delivery issues.
Bulwer resident Lungelo Myeza used the app to report a blocked stormwater drain.
“I first shared the details via the ratepayers group,” Myeza said. “I then went on to log the issue on the app by clicking the category it fell under, which was sanitation, and I put the location pin and explained what the issue was. The issue was immediately resolved; a team was dispatched to clean it out and I was updated.”
eThekwini municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said CityMenderSA was not integrated with any of their back-office operational systems as it could cause confusion for ratepayers.
“As a result, faults logged through this platform are not automatically routed to the relevant municipal departments for resolution. Additionally, the fault reference numbers generated by CityMenderSA are not recognised within our official systems and therefore cannot be tracked or actioned by municipal teams.
“We caution that while third-party platforms can offer value, any solution that operates outside of our integrated environment may inadvertently misrepresent the municipality’s responsiveness and create confusion for residents.”
Prof Sithembiso Myeni of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s School of Built Environment and Development Studies said the tool should be regarded as a significant milestone for online participation in the public service landscape as it demonstrated the active involvement of citizens.
“The concept of e-participation is not so much different from traditional participation. The only difference is that e-participation calls for the use of information and communication technologies to elevate citizen participation, without necessarily dismantling the traditional forms of participation. This shows clearly that the core values of both concepts are the same.”
Myeni said that though tech tools play a significant role in elevating citizen participation in local government, their adoption often faces challenges. “Among other challenges are the digital divide, digital illiteracy, poor usability and lack of awareness. We cannot ignore the reality that people have different accessibility to digital platforms and some of them are not well-informed in terms of how to use such platforms.”
But he added that e-participation seemed to be gaining momentum and its contribution to the public service landscape would be celebrated in the years to come.
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