Johannesburg mayoral candidate for RISE Mzansi, Lukhona Mnguni, has called on the City of Johannesburg to urgently resolve the ongoing Pikitup labour dispute, warning that uncollected refuse has become a public health and environmental crisis.
The disruption, caused by casual workers demanding to be permanently employed, has left rubbish piling up in several parts of the city. Mnguni visited the Norwood Depot on Wednesday, where he spoke to Newsnote.
“It’s for the city leadership to get its act together and for the Executive Mayor of the City of Joburg to come to the party and get this thing sorted out. We cannot, as Joburgers, live with the kind of trash we’ve been forced to live with,” said Mnguni.
He said it was unacceptable that the Norwood Depot remained non-operational while refuse had gone uncollected for up to three weeks in some areas.
Mnguni suggested the city should review its contracts with service providers as a possible solution to the dispute.
He said the contractors’ agreements already include wage allocations and argued that many of the casual workers are not demanding the same salaries as permanent employees.
“The workers are saying they don’t even want to be absorbed at the rate at which current permanent workers are paid. They want a pathway to permanent employment, with proper pay slips, weekends off and compliance with the Labour Relations Act,” he said.
Mnguni added that restructuring existing contracts could provide a practical way to absorb workers while allowing salary scales to be negotiated over time.
Meanwhile, Pikitup Managing Director Bukelwa Njingolo previously told GroundUp that general worker posts advertised in 2024 had to be re-advertised after an internal audit and legal review identified flaws in the recruitment process.
Pikitup has maintained that all appointments must comply with legal and internal recruitment processes.
Police later arrived at the Norwood Depot and held discussions with the protesting workers.
The refuse collection disruptions are affecting parts of Alexandra, Sandton, Randburg, Fourways, Auckland Park, Soweto and surrounding areas.
