![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Bridges-116.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNumerous experts have raised concerns that Johannesburg\u2019s infrastructure has shifted from a maintenance backlog to full-scale system failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
William Gumede, Associate Professor at Wits University, warned that Johannesburg is accelerating toward becoming a failed city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He argued that the decay has become so advanced that it might eventually be cheaper and easier to start from scratch, building another city, than to rescue the current one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He attributed this to systemic corruption, patronage-based appointments, and the informalisation of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professor Mark Swilling from Stellenbosch University said that even if the city finds the R200 billion needed for repairs, it will not prevent collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason, he argued, is that the underlying issues of mismanagement and cadre deployment should be addressed first to prevent wasting the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Civil society and oversight groups have raised similar concerns about the collapse of Johannesburg\u2019s infrastructure and institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two of these voices were Julius Kleynhans, an executive at OUTA, and the Joburg Community Action Network (JoburgCAN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have described the state of the City of Johannesburg as a systemic failure, not just a service glitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kleynhans has criticised the absence of detailed plans, timelines, and accountability, noting that residents are tired of watching their city deteriorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard all the promises before. Meanwhile, the lived reality for residents and businesses in the city continues to deteriorate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sekadi Phayane-Shakhane, the CEO of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, flagged major infrastructure degradation in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She highlighted that the City of Johannesburg is flying blind regarding the safety of its bridges due to the lack of updated Visual Condition Assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BusinessTech visited Johannesburg\u2019s bridges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In February 2026, BusinessTech visited many bridges in and around Johannesburg and found that not much had changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problems which the experts and the Johannesburg Roads Agency are still there, without any signs of intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The photos below come from BusinessTech\u2019s trip to Johannesburg and the bridges it visited in and around the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johannesburg, which is promoted as a world-class African city, is suffering a tremendous infrastructure collapse which including its hundreds of bridges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":851003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[21613,1996,24754],"class_list":["post-851001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-bridges","tag-johannesburg","tag-johannesburg-roads-agency-jra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851001"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851068,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851001\/revisions\/851068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"