Felix Radzilani, chairperson of Samwu shop stewards at Pikitup, said they backed the announcement by Mayor Herman Mashaba that entities such as Pikitup, the Joburg Roads Agency, City Power, Metrobus and Joburg Water would be integrated into the City. “This simply means better working conditions and better salaries for our workers,” he said.
Some of the placards with messages that show workers’ support of the mayor’s announcement.
Radzilani added that workers were being exploited and their jobs being cut by employers to make profits, and they were being paid low salaries. “Casualisation of workers has increased through outsourcing and subcontracting of public work that is supposed to be done by our members.”
On 26 January, the City Council approved a report proposing the initiation of a process to reintegrate the entities back into the City. At the time, Mashaba said the City had a complicated structure of entities with an even more complicated relationship with the City. “The absurdity of this situation is that the City is the sole shareholder of these entities, but they operate under the Companies Act and are semi-autonomous of the City.”
Each of the entities had a board to whom managing directors or chief executive officers report, and not to the City. “How can a City be responsible and accountable to its residents for fast-tracking service delivery when it does not have complete control over the entities that implement delivery?” said Mashaba.
The mayor said reintegration would take up to 18 months, “We cannot afford to shock the system by being hasty, rash or ill-considered, because the residents of our city will suffer,” said Mashaba.
Radzilani said the mayor had assured them that integration would not result in job losses, adding that residents would benefit as they would receive better, improved services from the City once the process was complete.
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