Johannesburg suburbs left full of rubbish as city bungles Avis contract
Pikitup drivers arrived to fetch vehicles and were told they could not use them
The streets of Johannesburg, including in some of the richest suburbs of the economic heart of SA, were left with bins full of rubbish for almost a week after the city failed to renew on time a multimillion-rand contract with Avis SA, the vehicle-rental company in the Barloworld group. Mayor Herman Mashaba, who was elected as the DA’s first mayor after the 2016 local government elections, having run on a ticket of improving governance, has emphasised cleaning up the city. This includes his monthly city-wide cleaning campaign in which residents are encouraged to join in. In recent months the city has looked worse for wear as Pikitup, the city’s entity which is responsible for keeping it clean, suffered setbacks. Disruptions in service delivery started earlier in 2018 when protesters demanded to be appointed as part of 1,400 workers insourced from external service providers. The protests escalated, with the violence prompting metro police to escort Pikitup’s workers in September. The ...
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