Recovery plan in place to get waste collection up and running again in Joburg

JOHANNESBURG - The City of Joburg and Pikitup have outlined a seven-day recovery plan to get the waste collection back up and running, including giving their fleet a boost.

This after contract workers downed tools last week in demand of permanent jobs, leaving the city drowning in rubbish.

The striking workers have now been slapped with an interdict and at a press briefing on Wednesday morning, Pikitup managing director, Bukelwa Njingolo, went through their next steps.

"We have engaged our ad hoc contracts, which are service providers that are contracted with Pikitup, and they are assisting us by providing us with trucks that clean the City of Johannesburg. So, the request from them was to give us additional fleet because we do know that we have a huge backlog."

Additional mechanical sweepers and TLBs [Tractor-Loader-Backhoe] are being dispatched to the inner city, Marlboro, Midrand, Norwood and Roodepoort, where Njingolo said they were still facing challenges.

When it comes to the striking workers’ demands for jobs, meanwhile, she said there was an ongoing recruitment drive underway, the next phase of which kicks off this month.

"We do believe that we could look at consideration of those who are in partnership with Pikitup, including your casual workers. But that will not necessarily be targeting casual workers because we have a lot of groups that we work with."