By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
City of Johannesburg waste management entity Pikitup has outlined plans to address the recent strike that disrupted services in parts of the city.
CoJ’s city manager Floyd Brink and Pikitup managing director Bukelwa Njingolo briefed the media, hoping to clarify the ongoing protest and ensure ratepayers that service delivery would be back to normal.
Njingolo stated that Pikitup is committed to initiating immediate clean-up actions and has engaged their service providers, who will be providing them with additional resources.
She said they would work nightshifts where they could and throughout the weekend to clear the backlog.
“We have communicated with our communities in areas where we have a backlog and where we know operations are not happening that at least they could take their waste to our garden sites. We are working on our catch-up plan,” she said.
She promised the residents that they would start to see a difference at the weekend.
Pikitup services have been disrupted throughout the city since last Thursday as casual workers, whose contracts are about to expire, forcefully demanded jobs from the company.
The strike impacted various depots, including Norwood, Marlboro, Waterval, Selby, Randburg, Midrand, and Diepsloot.
Johannesburg City Manager Floyd Brink said, that “the disruptions of services were occasioned by the disgruntled workers from various service providers to Pikitup’.
“They felt they were supposed to have been considered and prioritised in the recently held open recruitment processes.”
“We are aware of the allegations surrounding the recruitment process at Pikitup. I have directed an investigation to uncover the truth. If wrongdoing is found, action will be taken against all implicated officials,” Brink warned.
“The MD has committed that the procurement of an independent investigator will be concluded this afternoon to conduct an investigation, which is expected to be concluded in the coming weeks.”
Spokesperson of the Democratic Municipal and Allied Workers Unions of South Africa , Meshack Ntshauba, said that they want Pikitup to absorb about 300 casual workers.
“We want these workers to be absorbed by Pikitup, not employed through these contractors who were recently appointed because the tender awarding was not done according to the book.
“We suspect that all the companies that have been awarded tenders for the casual workers at Pikitup do not meet certain criteria. We will, on Wednesday, file an urgent application to demand full disclosure on these companies so that we can be sure due diligence was followed,” he said.