Johannesburg Mayor, Herman Mashaba, has instructed Pikitup to look into the feasibility of full time employment for former Jozi@Work beneficiaries.

This comes after the mayor held a meeting with representatives of contract workers employed by Pikitup, including former Jozi@Work and Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) beneficiaries, to discuss the alleged non-payment of their contracts following the end of the programme.

Providing better quality services

“Pikitup provides a crucial core service to Johannesburg residents. I welcome all suggestions for not only further capacitating the entity but also providing better quality services to residents.

“Given the crucial nature and ongoing need for the service, I have instructed Pikitup to investigate the feasibility of providing full employment opportunities to some of the workers involved with the programme,” the mayor said.

Mashaba has instructed the waste service provider to wrap up and present its feasibility study to his office by the end of the month.

A speedy resolution

“Crucial to our approach will be finding a means of offering these former temporary workers with the dignity of stable employment and fair play.” He added that preference would be given to verified Jozi@Work and EPWP contract workers subject to a recruitment process and assessments for applicants.

Mashaba explained that the feasibility creating these employment opportunities would be subject to the operational needs of Pikitup whilst guaranteeing the financial sustainability of the entity.

Meanwhile Mashaba also instructed Pikitup to engage with the third party service providers responsible for the management and payment of the former Jozi@Work employees and ensure that the matter of non-payment was resolved immediately.