Operations at Pikitup’s Roodepoort Depot have once again ground to a halt, this time due to industrial action by casual workers, just days after an unrelated labour dispute disrupted refuse collection across Johannesburg.

When the Roodepoort Record visited the depot on Monday, August 3, a small group of casual workers were unloading refuse from a trailer and piling it in front of the entrance gate on Granville Avenue in Lea Glen.

This is the second consecutive week that the entity has been unable to operate at full capacity.

• Also read: Pikitup workers trash Roodepoort CBD

The latest disruption follows last week’s unprotected industrial action by members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), which the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) said affected operations after workers attended an unauthorised general meeting and marched to City of Johannesburg offices. The union demanded a meeting with the city manager, the lifting of precautionary suspensions against some of its shop stewards and the implementation of the R10.3b politically facilitated wage agreement.

The Record sent questions to Samwu regional secretary Thobani Nkosi via WhatsApp on July 30, requesting comment on the industrial action. At the time of publication, no response had been received. Phone calls also went unanswered.

Responding to the Record on August 3, CoJ spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane confirmed that the industrial action undertaken by Samwu members was unauthorised and that none of the required processes for such a meeting had been followed by the union.

Modingoane added that the CoJ is enforcing its ‘no work, no pay’ policy against employees who participated in the action.

“The City also reserves the right to discipline staff who have taken part in the unlawful action and has applied for an interdict against Samwu,” he said.

The latest disruption also follows recent service interruptions caused by contractors withholding services over unpaid invoices.

Responding to a previous media enquiry, Pikitup spokesperson Anthony Selepe told the Record on July 31 that the service disruptions were caused by cash flow challenges experienced by both the entity and the City of Johannesburg.

The Record spoke to striking casual workers at the depot on August 3, who claimed they have been at loggerheads with Pikitup since June 2024, when the entity allegedly cancelled the recruitment process for 400 workers.

“We applied for the advertised positions, went for interviews and even medical exams, only to be told the positions had been cancelled,” said Themba Magoda, who has been collecting refuse on a casual basis since 2019.

“We are told by the entity that there is no money to employ us permanently. We don’t accept this excuse because it only makes sense that using a contractor is more expensive than having your own workforce.”

The Record sent a media enquiry to Pikitup via WhatsApp and email on August 3, requesting comment by 16:00 on the casual workers’ claims, the reason for the reported cancellation of the recruitment process, and the impact of the protest on operations.

At the time of going to print, no response had been received.