The City of Joburg will be advertising additional job opportunities for Pikitup casual workers following an ongoing protest that has left the city filthy. This was revealed by city manager Floyd Brink and Pikitup managing director Bukelwa Njingolo yesterday when giving an update on the city's plans to make sure waste collection continues during the strike.

FIRST PRIORITY 

Njingolo said they will open the next phase of recruitment in the coming weeks, which is expected to conclude by June. She said first preference will be given to the protesting casuals. "We do believe that we could consider those who are in partnership with Pikitup, including the casual workers, but we will not necessarily be targeting casual workers because we have a lot of groups that we work with as Pikitup is assisted by about 3,000 Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers on the ground,' she said.

NOT FAIR

The Democratic Municipal and Allied Workers Union of South Africa (DEMAWUSA) said they were not pleased that some of their members were arrested outside the Pikitup Joburg depot. Last week contract workers downed tools citing unfair labour practices and demanding permanent employment. General-Secretary Meshack Ntshauba said the arrest was unjustified. "Our members neither resisted nor engaged in any form of vandalism or violence. They only wanted answers and the police failed to respond. The police presented them with an alleged court order and informed our members that they were instructed by the City of Johannesburg to remove them from the entrance of Pikitup. The confusing part is that the police arrested our members at their places of residence and charged them with contempt of court for the case they are not part of. The police must explain how they got the alleged order. Our lawyers have been up and down trying to get to understand what happened." Ntshauba said.

CASUALS SIDELINED 

Enos Maake, leader of Combat, which is a protest movement, said casual workers were displeased that that they were sidelined and new people were hired for the recently advertised permanent posts. "We will shut down the depot until they absorb these workers and leave this online recruitment and take in people internally. It is a reckless decision that does not make sense. Why would you hire inexperienced people and leave casuals who have been working for the entity for years.'

"WE WANT SERVICES TO RESUME"

Pikitup spokesperson, Muzi Mkhwanazi, said that the entity has deployed the Public Order Policing (POP) unit to remove protesters obstructing its depots, ensuring employees can resume waste collection services for the City of Johannesburg residents. "POP units have been instructed to arrest and remove these lawbreakers to allow the staff to perform their duties. Additionally, private security personnel and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) will escort employees as they provide services to residents,' added Mkhwanazi.