Stinky pavements: Here’s when Pikitup will collect your bins
· Citizen
Eleven of Pikitup’s twelve depots have reportedly returned to normal collection schedules, with the entity appealing to striking casual workers to allow operations to continue while wage talks proceed.
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Johannesburg’s waste management entity, Pikitup, told The Citizen on Wednesday that waste collection operations across the city were returning to normal, more than a week after a strike by contract workers left rubbish piling up on the city’s streets.
Pikitup spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi told The Citizen that most depots had resumed normal service, with only isolated issues remaining.
“11 of the 12 Pikitup depots are back on schedule, save for isolated escalations that are being addressed,” he said.
The Avalon depot, which had been the hardest hit by the disruptions, was expected to clear its backlog within days.
According to Mkhwanazi, “The Avalon Depot has fully resumed its operations, and the backlog would be cleared by the end of this week.”
JMPD support to depots remains situational
Mkhwanazi said the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) had been escorting Pikitup trucks in some areas, but this support was not a permanent arrangement.
“JMPD occasionally escorts Pikitup trucks as and when required, based on various situations ranging from community unrest to disruptions at the Depots hampering service delivery,” he said.
Asked what guarantees could be given to residents that the disruptions would not recur once JMPD support was scaled back, Mkhwanazi acknowledged that Pikitup remained exposed to the same challenges affecting the communities it served.
“Pikitup operates and provides services within the communities it serves and is not immune to dynamics that occur within those communities,” he said.
He added that management was continuing efforts to resolve tensions with the casual workers involved in the strike.
Regarding the central demand from the roughly 300 casual and contracted workers to be permanently absorbed into Pikitup’s workforce, Mkhwanazi confirmed that discussions were ongoing
“Engagements are currently underway to resolve the impasse with casuals,” he said.
This follows Johannesburg executive deputy mayor Loyiso Masuku’s dispute that the City of Joburg had agreed to hire casual workers permanently.
Some of the workers claimed they had previously been promised permanent positions, a claim Masuku said needed to be verified.
She said the city required clarity on who had made such a commitment to the workers.
Deputy mayor apologises and appeals for calm
Masuku apologised to residents last week over the extended waste collection failures, which followed a week of disruptions to Pikitup’s operations caused by the striking contract workers demanding permanent employment.
Speaking on Tuesday, Masuku appealed directly to the casual workers to allow Pikitup’s permanent staff to continue their duties uninterrupted.
“This is an appeal to the casual workers to please allow our Pikitup employees to continue with their work in terms of waste provision on the ground in our communities, our litter pickers, our loaders who are in the communities,” she said.
She stressed that waste collection was an essential service that the city was obligated to maintain.
Masuku urged the striking workers to make use of the engagement platform already set up by Pikitup management rather than disrupting operations further.
“Management has started engagements with you. Please use those platforms, because when the city is dirty and too much waste piles up, it becomes a health hazard for our residents,” she said.
She also called on workers not to intimidate or harm colleagues who continued to report for duty, describing the responsibility for a clean city as shared.
“This is your city as well. It is your municipality, so keeping it clean is part and parcel of your responsibility,” she said, appealing for cooperation between workers and management to resolve the dispute while normal services resumed.