(Bloomberg) -- On a recent sunny afternoon, Joshua Radebe patted down asphalt into a neatly filled pothole on a busy Johannesburg street as a motorist tooted and waved to him. Radebe works not for the government but for insurance company Discovery Ltd.’s “Pothole Patrol.” Most Read from BloombergThe Bear Market Has Nearly Been Erased, Fewer Than 20 Months After It BeganUS Recession Becomes Closer Call as Economists Rethink ForecastsPutin Warns Poland Over ‘Aggression’ Against Ally BelarusWhy Sou

Power cuts of as many as 12 hours a day have driven schools, hospitals and businesses to generators. Water in some communities is unsafe to drink. A dilapidated sanitation system triggered a recent cholera outbreak near the capital, Pretoria. Outside of some national highways, paved streets have more potholes than road. Poorly maintained state schools are keeping a whole generation from access to a decent education.

Theft of everything from copper cables to solar panels are common, and crime has soared to such an extent that the private security industry now employs more people than the police force and military put together.