Every house.Found.
Messaging, Reporting, Emergency Assistance and Navigation for cities, townships and rural communities including places streets have no names
Patent ZA 2022/12626 · Built in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape
MdantsaneDemo wardGUAround your home
View all2015, NU 3, Mdantsane · Demo ward
The real app flow with sample data. Tap around.
No street names.
No sequence.
You'd expect house numbers to follow the street.
In Mdantsane they don't. 1992 and 1993 are two streets apart.
1777 sits alone among the 1980s. And the streets have no names.
So ZUZA finds a house the way people know it: by number and unit.
Built for the places maps forgot
Millions of South Africans live where a delivery, an ambulance or a visitor can't find the door. ZUZA starts there.
Townships
Thousands of homes, house numbers out of order, and not one street name.
Rural villages
Homesteads across the hills, found by their number and village.
Everyone with a phone
Report, call for help and message, even with no data left.
Sivuyile Ngcanga
Founder and Director, Sheer Versatility Group
When my father had a heart problem, the paramedics took two hours to find our house. I decided no other family should wait like that.
From 2018 to 2020 he walked Mdantsane and plotted every household against its house number and unit. That data is what ZUZA is built on.
- 2018Began plotting every household in Mdantsane
- 2021Patent filed through Spoor & Fisher
- 2022R260 000 from the Technology Innovation Agency for a prototype
- 2023First app, then called ZULA
- 2024Patent published in the September Patent Journal
- 2025Renamed ZUZA, offline texting added, patent certificate delivered
One app for the whole community
Search a house by its number and its unit.
Type 1993 and ZUZA asks which unit, because NU 2 and NU 3 both have one. Pick it and the route runs on real streets to the door.
Try typing 1993
MdantsaneDemo wardGUAround your home
View all2015, NU 3, Mdantsane · Demo ward
No service
No signal. No data. Still delivered.
During load-shedding or in a dead zone, ZUZA phones pass a message along, phone to phone, until it reaches the person it's for.
Thandi to Mama
Taxi broke down at the bridge. Walking, 20 min.
Delivered via 5 nearby phones
Every pin lands on the municipality's desk.
Officials see each report with its place, photos and video, send a contracted team, track it to the end and broadcast to the residents affected.
Open
2
In progress
2
Resolved
1
- Pothole1993, NU 3, MdantsaneNew
- Street lightNear 1777, NU 3, MdantsaneAssigned
- Burst pipe2015, NU 3, MdantsaneAssigned
- Traffic lightMain road, NU 2, MdantsaneResolved
- RefuseTaxi rank, NU 1, MdantsaneNew
Sample reports
Patented. Funded. On air.
- walking Mdantsane to plot every household
- 2 yearswalking Mdantsane to plot every household
- prototype funding from the Technology Innovation Agency
- R260 000prototype funding from the Technology Innovation Agency
- users targeted in the first year
- 100 000users targeted in the first year
Patent ZA 2022/12626 covers finding a house by number and unit, and the phone-to-phone messaging. Wits Business School's Case Centre is writing a case study on ZUZA, to help other entrepreneurs with the challenges they face every day. ZUZA works towards the UN goals of good health and well-being, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities.
Free to find a house.
Free for everyone who needs to find a house, text offline or receive safety alerts. Paid plans for families, businesses and the people who serve them.
ZUZA Free
Free
Navigation, local business search, community alerts, fault reporting, offline texting and safety alerts
ZUZA Plus
R29.99
a month
Everything in Free, plus full offline maps and no ads. R299 a year
ZUZA Family
R79.99
a month
Everything in Plus, plus up to five people, live location sharing and safe-arrival notices
Bring ZUZA to your community.
Municipalities, emergency services, fleets and businesses: talk to us about a pilot.