REQUESTS have been received from residents that they should be reimbursed a monthly service charge for refuse collection because Pikitup could not provide a service due to an ongoing illegal work stoppage on the part of its employees affiliated to SAMWU.
The City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) waste management entity, Pikitup, would like to point out to the Joburg residents that the refuse removal services fee is a monthly charge that is based on the value of the property as per the promulgated city tariffs.
The charge cannot be itemised or allocated to a bin, nor the number of lifts per bin. It’s not based on the quantity of the waste collected either. The totality of waste services includes bin collection, street cleaning, illegal dumping, litter picking and landfill operations. These are all funded from the tariff as stipulated in the tariffs policy and CoJ’s waste by-laws.
In the case where refuse is not collected due to unforeseen circumstances, which may include planned or unplanned strikes, general service delays caused by bad weather conditions or truck breakdowns, Pikitup implements a contingency plan to deal with the backlog of uncollected refuse.
Pikitup said it regrets any inconvenience caused as a result of the ongoing disruption to refuse collection services and would like to assure Joburg’s citizens, and in particular ratepayers, that it is doing what it can to stabilise the daily operations.
Pikitup is collecting as much as it can as per the contingency measures in place. Pikitup understands that many residents have had their collections missed. Services are running during the night to deal with these kind of delays. Where possible Pikitup is sending out extra crews and prioritising areas which have been affected the most.
It is not possible to provide a refund or credit during or after an illegal strike. Even though there has been a disruption to collections, the law does not permit ratepayers to withhold payment of their refuse charge.
Pikitup continues to encourage residents and business owners to collaborate with the company by continuing, where possible, to drop off waste at the nearest Pikitup garden refuse or landfill sites.
While Pikitup expresses its gratitude for individuals who have taken it upon themselves to provide a service to residents to collect waste for a fee, residents are requested to ensure that the waste is being disposed of at Pikitup-approved collection points, garden refuse sites or landfill sites. It is not acceptable for individuals providing this service to dump the collected waste illegally to avoid going to the landfill sites and they risk being fined for illegal dumping.
