Strike affects residents

At the Pikitup depot on Church Street, rubbish was strewn just outside the gates, water from a burst pipe had collected in puddles in the driveway, and acrid smoke from a raging fire polluted the air.

Call centre agent Samuel Kgetedi stopped to view the billowing clouds of smoke coming out of the depot.

Kgetedi said he was used to the sight of the accumulating rubbish by now.

“I drive past to go to work every day. It’s terrible. And now the fire. The smoke can be inhaled by people driving or walking past. It’s really bad,” he said.

Midrand residents maintain they have suffered the brunt of the strike as it is one of the areas with a severe backlog.

According to the Pikitup website, there were collections done over the weekend in which efforts were made to collect all refuse that could not fit into refuse bins. However many residents are still sitting with heaps of uncollected rubbish.

Yvette Page confirmed that her rubbish had not been collected at her workplace or her home.

She said, “I thought Pikitup was going to work around-the-clock to clear up their mess. My boss had to get a removal company to sort out the mess at work today and at home nobody’s been either.”

Pikitup spokesperson, Desiree Ntshingila, had the following to say about the problems experienced by Midrand residents: “We’ve been having a few challenges in the Midrand and Randburg areas with intimidation. Pikitup workers are being intimidated by illegal strikers. We are offering assistance where we can.”

Asked why many areas were left to deal with growing piles of rubbish that weren’t being cleared Ntshingila said, “We’ve now hired additional manpower and doing whatever we can to ensure that waste is cleared away as soon as possible. We are instituting clear-ups on Saturdays and Sundays and are deploying law enforcement to deal with the intimidation. We do appreciate the Midrand residents’ patience and understanding in dealing with the backlog of litter.”