‘We want permanent jobs’, 500 Pikitup casual workers and volunteers tell Dada Morero
About 500 Pikitup casual workers from different depots across the City of Joburg took to the streets to protest at Dada Morero’s office demanding permanent jobs.
The aim of the protest was to hand over a memorandum to Morero, demanding permanent employment for casual workers and a forensic report on the investigation of the 300 jobs that were advertised earlier this year in May, Zandspruit-based Combat Movement leader, Enos Maake, said.
Combat Movement led the peaceful together with the workers.
The community-based organisation assists members of the community find work and fight corruption in government.
Workers from depots across the City were part of the strike, chanted outside the mayor’s office demanding to be absorbed into jobs.
The deports are, Avalon, Central Camp, Norwood, Marlboro, Midrand, Randburg, Roodepoort, Selby, Southdale, Waterval and Zondi.
Maake told the media that they have been waiting for the forensic report for five months.
“We have been told that the report was conducted and concluded a long time ago and the City is delaying the release of it.”
He said the report must be made public for people to know what had happened in the last recruitment process.
Earlier this year, IOL News reported that 300 casual workers and volunteers took to the streets to demonstrate and demand permanent employment.
The protest led to refuse piling up in many areas across the City, raising health concerns for residents.
After the protest, the City advertised 400 jobs. However, Maake says the recruitment process was flawed and there was corruption in the way workers were being hired.
“We want those 400 posts that were allocated in a corrupt and fraudulent manner by the City’s officials to be given to casual workers and volunteers who have been working at the depot for years,” Maake said.
Additionally, Maropeng Sephuma, 41, who has been volunteering at the Randburg depot for over four years voiced her concerns.
“I have been volunteering at the depot since 2019, and they promised to offer us permanent jobs, but they failed to fulfil their promises. We want permanent jobs, nothing else,” Sephuma said.
Another volunteer, Matsatsi Motshweni, 42, from the Waterval depot, echoed Sephuma’s sentiments on being promised permanent jobs.
“I started volunteering in 2020, and I have never received a penny. But yet we work hard to make sure that communities are clean.”
Mbulelo Ruda, the City’s group executive director for co-operative affairs, accepted the memorandum of demands on behalf of the mayor.
Ruda said they had experienced delays in releasing the forensic report, but pledged to release it next week.
“We have met with the investigator and we will release the report next week. We will meet with the leaders of the protest to provide them with feedback from the report,” Ruda said.
Following the protest, Ruda said they would halt the recruitment process of workers in all the depots until this matter is resolved.
Furthermore, the protesters have vowed to continue protesting outside the mayor’s office if their demands are not met.
IOL News