The chairperson of the Rabie Ridge Residents Association Charles Jones has accused Pikitup of not giving their request urgent attention.
Jones said following the meeting with the entity management on July 1, which resulted in ‘amicable agreements and proposals’, they were still awaiting feedback.
Read more: Rabie Ridge Residents Association vow to remove Midrand’s Pikitup depot
He said in the meeting, that Pikitup management promised to provide feedback by July 4. However, a week later they have not heard from the entity.
This squabble emanates from a protest by the association on July 1 where residents say they demanded that some of their youth be employed by Pikitup, since its depot is in their area. Jones claims that the entity was employing people from various areas, while the youth in the area were not reaping the benefits of having the depot in their ward.
Also read: Pikitup bin overflowing with uncollected garbage for over a month
In our article, Hire our youth or else…, [Week ending July 5], Jones said the entity was overlooking unemployed Rabie Ridge youth.
Jones then contacted the paper on July 8 saying they had been making follow-up calls since the meeting.
“Piktup promised us a ‘positive’ answer by July 4 and to date, they have not responded. I have been making calls with the representatives, whom we had the meeting with, and they say, ‘they are in meetings and will get back to me’, but they never do. Only once did he return my call. I’m the one who is always making follow-ups with them,” said Jones.
He said the community was growing impatient with the delay tactics by the waste collection utility’s top brass.
Jones said they were ready to engage with the Pikitup CEO to raise their concerns if it needed to go to that level.
In a correspondence to the paper on June 1, Pikitup spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi said management will engage with Jones and the residents association leadership to try to resolve the matter.
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