The five-week-long Pikitup strike finally came to an end this week. The repercussions of the strike however will need to be dealt with for weeks to come.

Rubbish piled up in the City of Johannesburg while workers took part in an unprotected strike, demanding wage hikes and the resignation of Pikitup Managing Director Amanda Nair.

Earlier this month the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) called for urgent action because of the health risks posed by the ever-increasing amount of uncollected rubbish, particularly in rural areas. These rubbish heaps provide the ideal breeding ground for rodents and insect pests as well as infectious diseases.

With striking workers having returned to work on 11 April Pikitup is now taking efforts to address the backlog of uncollected waste and the health risks it poses. A double shift system has been implemented as a measure to clear backlogs of refuse removal and illegal dumping. The system will comprise of a day and night shift.

According to Pikitup, these efforts will be complemented by resources mobilised from all entities of the city and third party contracted service providers in order to remove the backlog of waste by the end of the month.

While Pikitup workers have commenced with their normal scheduled waste management services which includes refuse collection, street sweeping and clearing of illegally dumped waste, the organisation was warned that normal operations may be slower than usual due to excess waste which has accumulated over the past five weeks.

 

Plague scare

The City of Johannesburg was placed on high alert during the strike after a rodent was found to have plague antibodies, sparking fears of a possible disease outbreak. The NICD has however determined that there is no immediate threat to human health.

The NICD made the following statement:

“On the 16th of March, a single rodent tested positive for antibodies to plague. This rodent was 1 of 13 rodents submitted from Mayibuye, Region A, Johannesburg, Gauteng, and amongst many hundreds tested annually from across the country as part of routine surveillance.

There is no evidence of current infection, only of previous exposure in the infected rat. The absence of unusual rodent mortality suggests that there is no outbreak of rodent plague in progress at present, and there is no immediate threat to human health.

The presence of plague in an area is usually noticed when unusual ‘die-off’ of rodents occurs in a particular place. In this case, no ‘die-off’ has been observed.

Further testing in rats from the area was conducted and all tests were negative for plague. Persons should observe usual precautions and not handle live or dead rodents. There have not been any cases of human plague reported.”

While residents have been assured that there is no plague outbreak, officials have cautioned residents against handling live or dead rodents.