Loyiso Masuku said the City of Joburg never agreed to absorb the casual workers as permanent employees
Pikitup workers collecting dustbins. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
Johannesburg’s deputy mayor, Loyiso Masuku, has apologised to residents for rubbish not being collected around the city for more than a week.
Garbage has piled up on the city’s streets after 300 contract workers disrupted Pikitup operations throughout the week. They have been striking to try force the City of Johannesburg to hire them as permanent employees.
Pikitup operations disrupted
The situation was so dire that the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) had to be called in to help Pikitup as it resumed refuse collection.
“I can confirm that JMPD officers will continue patrolling and maintaining high visibility around dumping sites, Pikitup depots, and escorting Pikitup vehicles throughout the day to ensure safety and uninterrupted service,” JMPD spokesperson Superintendent Xolani Fihla confirmed to The Citizen on Friday.
On Saturday, Masuku told eNCA that Pikitup has been working since Monday to clear the backlog of rubbish not being collected.
“As of today, we can confirm that 11 of our 12 depots are functional,” she said.
The deputy mayor added that Pikitup will be working throughout the long weekend to clear the backlog.
She appealed to the disgruntled contract workers to allow Pikitup to continue collecting refuse throughout the city.
Casual workers
Speaking to the SABC on Friday night, Masuku reiterated that the protesting workers are not employed by the City of Joburg, but by contractors hired by the metro.
“There is no condition that says because you are a casual worker for an existing company, it is automatic that you will be absorbed [as an employee of the city],” she said.
Regarding claims by some contract workers that they were promised they would be appointed permanently by the city, Masuku said the metro needs to be told who made that commitment to them.
“You need to tell us who said that, because that is illegal. Who did that at management level? Do you have any names you can give us, any form of evidence, because we want to institute consequence management on those people who created an expectation to almost 380 people,” she said.
