Joburg’s great clean-up has started, but residents have been asked to be patient a little longer as the backlog is being cleared.
|||Johannesburg - Joburg’s great clean-up has started, but residents have been asked to be patient a little longer as the backlog is being cleared after the strike ended late on Thursday.
Put your bins out only on the scheduled collection days next week, said Pikitup.
Spokesman Jacky Mashapu said the utility was adding staff and trucks for a faster clean-up.
Pikitup asked residents who could to take their rubbish to the nearest garden dumping sites.
This morning there was great excitement among workers at the depot in the CBD over the deal reached on Thursday.
“We are so happy that they met our demands,” said one worker, who didn’t want to be named as workers piled into the trucks.
A group of women in the back of one truck danced, clapped and sang.
“We don’t want sorry sorry. We want money!... they sang.
The city centre is still reeling from the 10-day unprotected strike which ended on Thursday when the Gauteng provincial government intervened to break the deadlock between Pikitup and the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu).
Yesterday the stink of rotting rubbish reached new levels of foul in the CBD as the mounds of uncollected filth grew higher.
In Kliptown, Soweto, Makopano Khang, who sells corn in front of Walter Sisulu Square, said the stench from an overflowing dumpster nearby had hurt her business.
Near Thokoza Park, residents dumped their trash illegally in a field where delighted goats munched on it.
Lungiswa Mvumvu, spokeswoman for Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, said the hospital had a mountain of waste and by late Thursday was considering calling in private waste removal to help.
Announcing the agreement between the city, Samwu, Pikitup and the province, MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Jacob Mamabolo, said it was a political one and did not replace the bargaining council processes. “We started talks on Monday. There were long days and nights but we agreed on core issues. We understand it was an unprotected strike, but we acknowledge the legitimate demands of the workers,” he said.
It was agreed that:
* A senior advocate will be appointed to ensure a proper climate for negotiations and encourage trust.
The Joburg city manager will investigate salary disparity and Pikitup workers would be prioritised.
* A cost exercise will be completed to see how this will affect the city budget.
By February 1, investigations will be completed into the factors leading to the strike.
The no-work, no-pay conditions will be discussed.
The senior advocate will assist with criminal charges laid against workers during the wildcat strike.
* Email anna.cox@inl.co.za or follow her on Twitter @annacox
* Email kathleen.morrissey@inl.co.za or follow her on Twitter @bgirledukate
The Star
