Following the August 7 launch of the South African National Roads Agency Limited- (Sanral-) led Vala Zonke programme, which aims to tackle the thousands of potholes on roads across the country, Sanral engineering executive Louw Kannemeyer has told Engineering News the hope is to deal with most of the existing potholes within six months. “The immediate focus is the repair of open potholes, because that is what is damaging tyres, rims and causing accidents. We are hoping to move into the preventive maintenance phase in six months from now,” he added on August 8.