Pikitup has rejected claims by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that its management was absent from the Randburg depot during the party’s protest and confirmed that waste collection has been normalised since last week.

This follows the protest led by DA’s Joburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille, alongside local ward councillors at the Randburg depot demanding accountability.

The crowd gathered at the entrance to the depot and proceeded inside the building. Zille claimed that when the protesters arrived at the depot, they found no management officials on site. According to Zille, the only person they encountered was a receptionist.

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Pikitup spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi said that depot management was at work, with some managers on site inspecting operations to enable them to provide residents with accurate updates on waste collection progress in the area.

“It should be noted that depot management communicates with councillors daily regarding waste collection disruptions and continuously provides updates on the progress made in addressing backlogs. Councillors, in turn, communicate these updates to residents and keep them informed about waste collection issues.”

He added that the entity implemented its waste collection recovery plan, which entailed working on weekends, and to date a majority of its depot areas have been able to normalise waste collection services. “The Randburg depot normalised its waste collection last week,” said Mkhwanazi.

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“The disruption to Pikitup’s waste collection was occasioned by the protest demonstration by casual workers who were demanding permanent employment from the entity. The inconsistency in waste collection was also negatively affected by the citywide protest action by members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union.”

He added that the entity has no shortage of staff or equipment.

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