Pikitup chair blames Joburg’s finance system for trash crisis - TimesLIVE

Pikitup chair Maxwell Nedzamba says the Johannesburg metro’s financing model is at the centre of the waste collection crisis in the city.

Nedzamba told the Sunday Times that the policy governing the city’s coffers needed an overhaul.

“There is a cash flow challenge in the entire city of Johannesburg. There are a lot of competing interests. You’ll find that with Pikitup our challenge is insourcing employees. With another entity like City Power, they’ll be owing Eskom, with Joburg Water owing Rand Water. With a situation like that, you’ve got to look at which you’ve got to address before the other.”

The City of Johannesburg operates using a “sweeping” arrangement, where revenue collected from various entities gets placed in one account and redistributed across the city.

“If Pikitup collects R150m a week, in normal circumstances those proceeds [would] come back to the entity. But all the money goes to the main account, and at the main account they look at the main priorities, which are competing, and allocate accordingly,” Nedzamba said.

“If we have the minister of electricity threatening to cut off power because we have huge debt, the city has to prioritise that, and we get a lesser share of the funds because that need is immediate and urgent. Similarly, if Rand Water wants to introduce water throttling because of non-payment, we have a problem. We need to, at all times, service our creditors.”

Despite the competing interests, Nedzamba said Pikitup was crucial to public health and municipal infrastructure.

“If a household’s refuse is not collected today, it accumulates tomorrow. When collection is disrupted for several days or weeks, the problem becomes much bigger than an operational backlog. It becomes a public health, environmental and social problem.”

He conceded that the entity had challenges.

“Pikitup has been under significant operational pressure, particularly as a result of labour unrest, disruptions at some depots, fleet reliability challenges, financial and cash flow pressures affecting parts of the supply chain, and accumulated service delivery backlogs in certain areas.”

Recently, the city faced waste collection disruptions due to casual workers employed by service providers contracted to the city protesting for formal employment within the municipality.

These challenges have affected areas serviced by depots including Marlboro, Central Camp, Randburg, Roodepoort, Selby and Midrand.

Nedzamba said he understood the plight of the workers, but financial constraints meant permanent employment might not be possible at the moment.

“Their argument is that some of them have worked in waste collection for extended periods, perform work that is similar to that performed by permanent employees and receive lower levels of remuneration and benefits, primarily,” he said.

However, he maintained that the entity had reached a concession with the workers by explaining the financial situation.

“We are actively recovering the system and restoring consistent service. Our responsibility now is not simply to return to normal. We need to use this period to address the structural weaknesses that made the system vulnerable in the first place.”

Nedzamba said he understood that service delivery mattered deeply to communities.

“Our responsibility is therefore to restore confidence through reliable service delivery, transparent communication and accountability.”

He said Pikitup operated on a hybrid model combining permanent employees and contracted service providers.

“The entity employs approximately 4,500 workers, while contractors provide additional capacity, particularly in frontline refuse collection.

Nedzamba said the structure had evolved over time due to operational, financial and workforce considerations.

“One of the realities we have to acknowledge is that Pikitup has an ageing workforce. Waste collection is physically demanding work, and some experienced employees have over time been moved into functions that are less physically demanding.

“This has increased the dependence on contractors for some of the more labour-intensive collection activities.”

Nedzamba said the bigger task was to build an entity that was financially sustainable, resilient and capable of meeting Johannesburg’s waste-management needs for the next generation.

“That requires difficult conversations about our workforce, fleet, contracting model, infrastructure, finances and operating systems.

“We must be honest about where we are, disciplined about what we can afford and ambitious about where we need to go. Our objective should be simple: a clean, healthy and sustainable Johannesburg supported by a waste management entity that residents can rely on every day.”